


Treasure Hunt

by TheSouthernMoons



Series: LWA Extended [2]
Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27238717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSouthernMoons/pseuds/TheSouthernMoons
Summary: Summer break is here, and the gang is wondering what to do. Fortunately, Amanda has a plan that'll prove to be amazingly fun for everyone
Relationships: Barbara Parker/Lotte Yanson, Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari, Hannah England/Amanda O'Neill
Series: LWA Extended [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983344
Comments: 22
Kudos: 60





	1. Let's Go On A Treasure Hunt!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When deciding their summer plans, Amanda runs in with a grand slam idea

Summer break had finally arrived, and the girls were in the one of the dorm lounges discussing what their plans were going to be. Sucy had a mushroom expedition in the middle of the Amazon, Constanze was going to the first annual Magitech Science Fair, Jazminka got an internship at a magical bakery, and Lotte’s family asked her to be back for the summer to help at the business. Akko wanted to go home and see her parents and Diana invited her to come visit her manor for a while. The red eyed witch wanted Diana to come visit her in Japan, but she didn’t quite feel comfortable meeting the parents just yet. Hannah and Barbara were going to their homes as well, but each planned to visit their new girlfriends at some point.

“Speaking of our girlfriends,” Akko said, head in Diana’s lap, “where’s Amanda, Hannah? I thought she was gonna be with us when we talked about this.” Hannah shrugged, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Why should I know? It isn’t as though the two of us are attached at the hip like you and Diana,” she said with a smirk, eliciting a chuckle from the other girls.

“My, my, Hannah, what a brazen statement that is.” Diana returned the smirk, playing with Akko’s hair. “You know, I hear things on my evening patrols. Very interesting sounds, coming from a random assortment of rooms. There must be a ghost or two at this school. They’re always calling out for each other. ‘Hannah!’, ‘Oh, Amanda’!” she intoned dramatically.

“I-I have _absolutely_ no idea what in Jennifer’s name you are r-referring to, D-Diana Cavendish,” Hannah stammered, very red in the face. “Amanda and I are a respectable couple, and we would never do such a thing!”

“Do what, Hannah?” Diana’s smirk had grown wider and was joined by Akko’s. “I never said you two were doing anything, but if you are breaking rules, I’m afraid I must report you to the headmistress.”

Just then, Amanda burst into the room carrying a rolled-up poster. Noticing her girlfriend’s tomato face, she threw an arm around her. “What’s up, babes? Someone in here bullying you? I’ll kick their ass if you want.”

“D-Diana has been insinuating that we… that the two of us do… do _heinous activities_ in random rooms of the school after class hours!” She buried her face in the American’s shoulder, gripping her dress shirt.

“Huh, heinous activities? They aren’t heinous at all. It’s just what girls who are our age and dating normally do, nothing that out of the-”

“Sh-shut up, you idiot! Don’t admit to it!” Hannah fell on the couch and wrapped herself in the blankets lying there, trying to hide from her friends who were holding back laughter.

“Moving past the healthy activities of young women in love,” Amanda began again, “I found out something we all _have_ to do together. Check this out!” She unfurled the poster in her hands, allowing the room to read it.

“The Great British Magical Treasure Hunt?” Akko read aloud. “That sounds so cool! We should definitely enter!”

“I’ve never heard of that, and I’ve lived here all my life,” Diana responded. “Barbara and Hannah, have either of you?” A simultaneous ‘no’ came from the two girls, one still under her covers, though her now head poked out.

“It’s brand new this year, that’s why y’all don’t know it. Look, there’s the rules at the bottom.”

_The Great British Magical Treasure Hunt_

_Searching for adventure, for thrills and glory? Unsure what to do now that magic is returning and usable in more areas than the past few hundred years? Join witches from around Europe in the most intense, magical treasure hunt the world has ever seen. Each team will have their own dungeon stocked with monsters and traps and, of course, plenty of valuables!_

_Rules:_

  * _Teams must be from 3-9 witches_
  * _1 broom per 3 witches_
  * _10 kg of magitech allowed per team_
  * _1 Enchanted sack per 3 witches will be provided for treasure storage_
  * _The competition will last 2 days; food and water will be delivered magically to the team captain 3 times per day_
  * _Any minor, treatable injuries sustained in the hunt will be allowed to stay, but anything major and the team member will be magically removed for their safety_
  * _Teams will be scored based on amount of treasure collected, proportion of team members not removed for injury, and time spent in the dungeon_



_Winners will receive a front-page article in the British Magical Newspaper and a[£](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sign)5000 prize to be split amongst themselves. Applications are due July 1st, and the competition will take place July 11th-14th. 10 team spots are available, so sign up now!_

_Application qualifications available upon request_

_We are not responsible for the possible maiming or death of any party members_

“Sounds awesome, right?” Amanda said, grinning. “Way better than sitting at home all summer, at least. Let’s do it!”

“Yeah!” Akko shouted, sitting up and pumping a fist in the air. Hannah nodded in agreement, though her face was still red. The rest of the girls seemed unsure.

“Are you sure, darling?” Diana asked. “I suppose it does sound fun, but we have summer homework for Practical Magic Usage next semester, and I would very much like to get that done well. The class is apparently quite hard.” The other non-decided girls agreed, causing Akko and Amanda to groan.

“Ugh, can’t you Europeans have some fun every now and then?” Amanda chided, earning glares from most of the witches in the room. “It’s only two days, surely you can get away for that long.”

“Read the bottom,” Sucy said. “It talks about ‘application requirements’. Sounds like we may have to do something to qualify. That’ll take time.”

“It also says something about maiming or death. That sounds dangerous,” Lotte added, Barbara nodding along.

“Guys, we flew on a makeshift five-piece broom to stop a magical nuke from destroying France, and that was without Hannah and Barbara,” Akko rejoined. “I think we can handle a treasure hunt, especially with all nine of us working together.”

“Still, if Sucy is right and we need time to prepare an application, I do not think it wise to partake. That homework may ruin us before the class even begins,” Diana said.

“Aww, Sweetie, please?” Akko leaned into Diana’s face and fluttered her eyelashes against the blonde witch’s cheeks, trying to convince her to agree.

“That’s not going to work today, dearest,” she replied, smirking. “You can’t always get what you want just by being cute.” Akko groaned again and fell back to the couch, head once again in Diana’s lap, who began to idly play with her hair once again.

“Akko, Hannah, the three of us can still do it together, right? The rules only say we need three members to participate,” Amanda pleaded. Akko looked up into Diana’s eyes and grinned.

“Sorry, Amanda. The _mistress_ says no, and I don’t disobey her.” Diana’s eyes went wide as her face flushed, and she covered Akko’s face with a hand, looking at the floor.

“S-Stop it with this foolishness, Akko. I have positively NO idea what you are insinuating,” she stammered, growing redder with every second. “Honestly, the things you say to tease me…”

“Sorry Di, I couldn’t help myself,” the brunette giggled, leaning up to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek.

“Ignoring the gross lovers on the couch over there,” Sucy deadpanned, “it sounds like there’s not enough people to form a team. Sucks to be you, Amanda.” She laughed seeing the crestfallen look on the American’s face.

“A team for what?” The girls looked at the entrance of the lounge where Headmistress Holbrooke and Professor Chariot were now standing.

“The Great British Magical Treasure Hunt,” Amanda said dejectedly, holding out the poster.

“Why, this looks very exciting!” Holbrooke said, quickly reading the advertisement. “Why can you not all join?” The girls explained the situation about the homework and the time they don’t want to lose for it. “Well if that’s the case, I’ll waive that for you girls if you participate in the treasure hunt.”

“What?!” they said in unison, all looking between each other, confused.

“You’ll waive the homework for us?” Diana asked incredulously.

“Oh no, not just the homework,” the headmistress replied. “The entire class.” She was met with nine unbelieving stares from the students and smiled, nudging Chariot.

“Actually, the headmistress and I were just talking about that,” she began. “You all have been on more adventures than most of the professors here, let alone any group of students. We have seen evidence of your ability with practical magic over and over, and considering you stopped that missile, we thought you deserved a break.”

“But that was months ago,” Hannah returned. “And Barbara and I weren’t even a part of those adventures. Why now, and why would you include us?”

“When I want to do something like this, we have a faculty discussion and decide the outcome by a vote. Truth be told, I’m not the most popular headmistress Luna Nova has ever seen. It has taken Professor Chariot and I until earlier today to convince them to allow this to happen.” She smiled and winked at Hannah and Barbara. “As for you two, I never explicitly said the number of students I would be waiving the class for. I think the treasure hunt will be plenty of experience for you to justify my decision.”

The girls still sat where they were, silent. None of them could believe what they were hearing. “We can really get out of an entire class? What would we take instead of it?” Diana asked.

“You can do with that slot as you wish. You could sign up for another course, of course.” She chuckled at her lame pun, continuing on. “You could also not take anything and have extra free time for practice, homework, hobbies, whatever you want. Or, if you find a professor willing to sponsor you, you could even take on a research project. It will be entirely up to you.”

“I’m in,” Sucy said immediately.

“As am I,” Diana agreed.

“Me too,” Constanze’s Stanbot added in.

“Really?” Amanda said incredulously.

“I can get the potions professor to sponsor me. This is an opportunity I will _not_ pass up.” Diana and Constanze gave similar reasons, causing Akko to smile widely.

“Lotte, Jazminka, come on! Do the hunt with us, it’ll be so much fun!” she gushed.

“Hey, what about me?” Barbara complained, eliciting a giggle from the Japanese witch.

“Oh, please. If I get Lotte to agree, you’ll follow suit. Don’t deny it.” She smirked as Barbara turned pink, hiding her face in Lotte’s neck.

“I’ll go,” Lotte said. “Classes have been hard, and I haven’t had as much time to practice my fairy singing. It would be nice to get more time for that.”

“Okay, so we got Lotte and Barbara,” Amanda said, ignoring the muffled protests coming from Lotte’s shoulder. “Jaz, you in?”

“Sure. It sounds like fun, and we have not had many chances to spend time all together since spring break.” Akko and Amanda cheered, and the rest of the girls smiled together at the faculty members still standing in the entranceway.

“Excellent. I’m very pleased to allow you all the opportunity to partake in such a fun event. One more thing, though,” Holbrooke added. “I would like you to all wear the Luna Nova logo on your clothes, if you won’t wear your uniforms. Free publicity and all that.”

“Of course, Headmistress,” Diana replied with a smile. “Thank you very much.”

“Not at all, dearies. I remember my youth with such fondness; I wish to allow all young people the chance to create memories as good as I have.”

“It says here you get ten kilograms of magitech, huh?” Chariot said, looking over the poster again. “I’m guessing Constanze will be in charge of that, right?” The small German girl nodded, a small smile visible on her face. “I’m sure I could convince Croix to help you out if you wanted. Should I ask?” Again she nodded, the smile growing even more. “Wonderful. I’ll try to see if the judge will count this toward her community service.” The two faculty members left the room discussing in excited tones while the students did the same in the lounge.

“All right, listen up girls,” Diana said loudly, calling attention to herself. “We have about three weeks until the application is due, and then two weeks after that if we make it in. Let’s go over what we need to do by then. Amanda, you request the application requirements and start making sure we have three brooms in perfect condition for the hunt.”

“Check.”

“Sucy, you stockpile ingredients and start brewing whatever potions you think we’ll need. Treasure searching, acidic, vanishing etc.” A slight cackle from the puce haired witch indicated that she understood. “Lotte, get some practice in with your fairies. They could be very useful. Barbara, you can help Lotte, as well as research magical creatures with Hannah. We have no idea what they might stock our dungeon with.” The other two British witches looked at each other and smiled at their pairing.

“Jazminka, see if you can figure out how to make those snacks that give you lots of emergency energy and strength. Those may come well in handy. Constanze, you’ve been assigned a task by Chariot. It’s your choice what we bring; we all trust you to make good judgements. Akko, you’re going to practice your transformation and illusion magic a lot. We might need both to get hard to reach treasure and stave off the magical creatures.”

Everyone nodded and started talking excitedly amongst themselves about the treasure hunt and getting to cut a class next semester. Eventually they dispersed, eating dinner in the cafeteria. Once finished, they split off into smaller groups. Sucy stayed in the Red Team dorm room with her potion set, and Constanze and Jazminka set up for a movie night between themselves with some magic snacks to unwind. The couples decided to spend some time together since finals just ended and they had all been cramming so hard they barely saw each other. Lotte and Barbara set off to the library, Hannah and Amanda went who knows where (though they tried to go somewhere Diana wouldn’t hear them this time), and Akko and Diana decided to go for a walk.

“Hey Di?” the brunette girl started.

“Yes, dear?” Diana responded, giggling at the silly nickname. “What is it?”

“Thanks for agreeing to do this treasure hunt and for organizing everyone.” She rubbed her thumb across the blonde witch’s hand, intertwined with hers. “You’re so good at leading people. Sometimes I forget how amazing you are.” Her smile caught Diana off guard; not that she didn’t expect it, but she was still not used to how radiant it was, even in the dark of nighttime.

“Oh, well,” she blushed at the sudden praise, also not quite used to that either. “It sounds quite fun, honestly. I also think the reward is more than worth it. Speaking of which, you never said what you would do with your free period, Akko.”

“Oh, I thought that would be obvious,” came the fast reply. “I’m gonna ask Chariot to sponsor me in a special study of illusion magic. I want to know how far I can push the boundaries of the senses with magic. I’ve got sight down, sure, but I wanna get sounds and smells and maybe even touch or taste too! Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Her eyes shone with excitement as she stepped out in front of Diana, walking backwards. “Imagine, you’re sad, so you go to a Radiant Akko show and you get warm hugs from a pink panda, and then a mermaid sings a song so beautiful that you cry tears of happiness!”

The blonde witch couldn’t help but laugh at the joy her girlfriend was displaying. “Radiant Akko? Isn’t that a bit _too_ much like Shiny Chariot? Maybe you should pick a more unique name.”

“Aww, but I’m her protagonist-”

“Protégé,” Diana cut in.

“Whatever,” she stuck her tongue out and skipped in a circle around Diana. “ _Anyways_ , I’m her successor, I have to have a name that pays homer to her.”

“Homage, dear,” came another interjetion.

“Yeah, that.” Akko smirked and stopped on a dime at the top of the hill they were climbing, causing Diana to almost bowl into her. They ended up with their faces mere inches apart, and a blush quietly formed on both of them. “So, are you just going to correct my English all night or are you going to put your mouth to better use?”

“Technically, those were French wor-” She was cut off by a pair of lips planting themselves on hers, stifling the words in her throat. Her arms automatically reached around the girl in front of her, one going around her waist and the other twisting into her hair. Akko’s hands mirrored their counterparts, and for a long moment there was silence. Once their lips parted, Diana pouted in mock annoyance at her girlfriend’s sudden action.

“You know I don’t like when you do that, dear,” she said.

“Yeah, you don’t like it, you _love_ it.” Akko’s smirk grew wider as she leaned in again, pressing their foreheads together. “We’re gonna be separating in a few days until at least July. Let’s just enjoy the time we have together.”

“Well, well, well,” Diana said with a grin, light pink dusted across her cheeks. “I guess you _can_ be good at English, huh? At least when you want to smooth talk me.”

“Alright, that’s it.” The brunette witch pulled her in for another quick kiss. “I’m revoking your talking privileges for the rest of the night. We’re gonna watch the stars in silence. If you feel the need to open your mouth, put it on mine.”

“My oh my, are we needy tonight?” the blonde girl giggled. “Finals got you that starved for affection I see.” This time she kissed Akko, pulling her hand from her hair to cup the girl’s cheek. “Fine with me. You know how much I enjoy just _being_ with you, especially when you’re in my arms.”

“Enough talking. I want my cuddles.” She dragged them down to the ground and Diana waved her wand, creating a blanket for them. They lay there, the blonde witch holding her girlfriend tightly, staring up at the night sky. The stars were bright that night, and when Ursa Major appeared, the two girls looked at each other and smiled at the memories of their adventures, sharing another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter is pretty tame; it's mostly set up with a side of fluff. The scope of this story is going to be larger than the first story in the series. There are more characters, more ships, and more action; it should end up a fair bit longer when it's all done. Not sure how many chapters it will be, but I have at least 6 planned at the moment


	2. Preparing For the Hunt!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot to do before the treasure hunt begins, so the girls get busy

The next day, Amanda got a response to her application query. She called everyone together in the lounge to discuss the requirements.

“Let’s see,” she started, ripping open the letter. “‘Each team member needs to be capable of completing a broom flying obstacle course.’” Akko groaned but Amanda ignored her. “‘Each team member needs to demonstrate ability to perform mid-level barrier and basic healing spells. Each team member needs to pass a rudimentary physical fitness test and submit a medical history to ensure that no existing conditions will cause issues during the event. Each team member will need to fill out the written exam portion, of which samples are included with this letter, to ensure they are knowledgeable enough regarding magical creatures and occurrences to stay safe during the event. A list of the magitech to be brought in must be provided, and the pieces weighed to ensure they fall within the weight limit.’”

Pulling out a stack of paper from the envelope that she could swear was not there before, Amanda found the exams, along with medical forms and a list of locations to take the required tests.

“Man, this sounds like a lot,” Akko whined.

“This seems fairly basic,” Sucy monotone. “We’ve learned pretty much all of this in class here, except maybe you, and the only ones who might fail the physical are me, Constanze, and Jasminka since our hobbies involves sitting still.”

“If anyone has trouble performing the barrier and healing spells, I can help with that,” Diana offered. “Amanda, could you help Akko with flying?”

“Sure. Conz, you gotta come with us for those lessons too,” she added. “It’s been a while since you rode a normal broom, right?” The small inventor nodded.

“Barbara and I can help with the written exam,” Hannah offered, glancing at the papers. “It says they’ve been enchanted so you have to take it alone in a quiet room, but we can help study.”

“That would be great. Akko, dear, please come up with a simple exercise routine for all of us to partake in so that we’re safely passing the physical.”

“Me?” the brunette asked, surprised.

“Yes, you,” Diana responded. “You have the most energy out of all of us and run circles around anyone who tries to keep up with you. There’s no better option among us.”

“I dunno Diana?” Akko asked. “I kinda just stay in shape by escaping life threatening situations. I don’t exactly exercise normally.”

“What if you made an obstacle course?” Lotte offered. “That way, it can be fun and helpful.”

“Ooh, like in Nightfall volume 22 when Bella had to go through an obstacle course to find Edgar’s diary?” Barbara asked excitedly.

“Yes! And then she had to go through it backwards to get out, which was such a great metaphor for the difficulties they were having in their relationship-” The two witches sat off to the side, whispering to themselves while the rest of the girls talked on.

“Well, anyway,” Diana rejoined. “I think we have a pretty good grasp on what we need to do before the applications are due. Amanda, what are the dates for the testing locations?”

“Looks like every three days until July 1st.”

“Okay, why don’t we agree to get the application done the last test day before July 1st? That way, we have time to practice and go home, and then we can decide from there how to proceed.” A chorus of nods from the girls indicated their agreement and they broke off to do their individual prep work.

Akko went to the library and found a book of basic exercises which she used to create a very rudimentary daily routine she was certain even Sucy could handle. Constanze headed to the labs where Croix was waiting to help out with their magitech; meanwhile, Jasminka was in the kitchen getting help with her first batch of Energen SnacksTM. Amanda was in the broom room cleaning and trimming some brooms she reserved for their use, and the English witch trio were reading over the exam with Lotte and creating a study guide for the other girls. No one was quite sure where Sucy went, though they all guessed it was some muggy spot of forest looking for mushrooms.

Working together, they managed to get most of the requirements squared away by the last day of their dorm agreements and they parted ways. Two weeks of relaxation and mild practice flew by the kids as they spent time with their families, and soon it was time to regroup for the application test. Gathering at the Cavendish Manor, where Diana had graciously invited the group to stay until the event was finished for simplicity (and because she secretly really liked having friends over), they spent a full day going through checklist items for test day.

First up was the broom course. Since Diana had no obstacle course nor time to build one, they decided to improvise. “Listen up, maggots!” Amanda assumed a drill sergeant’s persona, complete with uniform and cigarette. “We’re going to be running through the broom training today an-”

“AMANDA O’NEILL!!” Hannah thundered, storming over to the two-tone haired girl. “Just what do you think you’re doing with that cigarette? You put that out this INSTANT!”

“Chill babes, it’s fake,” she replied, plucking the roll of paper out of her mouth and presenting it to her fuming girlfriend. “See, just paper with an illusion charm. I thought it would add to the costume. Neat, huh?”

“Ugh, you are _unbelievable_!” The furious witch stomped off, leaving the group outside. They all stood there for a moment, silent in shock. Amanda was sweating, glancing around nervously.

“Uh, did I do something wrong?” she asked.

“Hannah hates cigarettes and smoking,” Barbara replied. “A _lot_.”

“Well, she should have told me. I wouldn’t have made the joke otherwise. And besides, it’s not like I’m gonna actually smoke or anything. She should know that,” came the indignant reply.

“She _has_ told you, Amanda,” Diana responded. “At least, she’s mentioned it several times while you were present. Doing it as a joke isn’t much better, either, since you should have known how much she hates it.” The American witch fidgeted for a second, unsure of what to do.

“I’m going to go find her,” she said, turning to enter the manor.

“Amanda wait,” Barbara called out, causing the tall girl to stop. “Hannah needs time to calm down. That’s just how she is. Let’s just do this, and then you can go after her when we’re done. We all know she can fly this course.”

Though she didn’t like it, Amanda reluctantly agreed and began the course runs. Constanze went first and managed to clear the entire thing first try, though it was dicey at times. Barbara, Lotte, Sucy, and Jasminka all fared perfectly fine, and Akko made it as well, though she had to try a second time. Promising over and over to do some extra practice later, she sighed in relief at having managed to complete the course. Diana went last and passed with flying colors, quite literally. Unbeknownst to her, Akko had jinxed her broom to release a rainbow behind it as it went. While she was snickering with Amanda, Diana took notice and grinned slightly before putting on a serious face and coming to land next to the two troublemakers.

“Uh oh Akko, she’s coming over and she doesn’t look amused. Put on a straight face, okay?” Amanda whispered.

“Amanda, I just put a rainbow on her broom and I’m dating her,” Akko whispered back. “I don’t think I _can_ put on a straight face.”

“That’s not what I mea-”

“Hello, girls. Mind telling me who played that little prank on me?” Diana interrupted, trying desperately to hide her smile. Fortunately, it seemed to be working as Amanda and Akko looked nervously between each other.

“Uhh, well… you see…” Akko began, looking at the floor.

“It was me,” Amanda blurted out, causing Diana to raise an eyebrow. “I felt bad about making things awkward with my whole Hannah thing, so I wanted to make everyone laugh a little.”

“Oh, is that so?” Diana said, her secret smirk slowly starting to appear. “And you’re sure it wasn’t Akko?”

“Yup, it was me, all me haha.” Her laughed was very forced and fake, but she went with it anyway, trying to cover for her friend.

“Well, that’s too bad then. I actually thought it was quite funny and planned to get an extra dessert for whoever pulled the prank. I was sure I would be giving Akko more cake tonight, but I guess not.” She smiled widely now, greatly enjoying her teasing. The two witches looked at each other, unable to form words.

“Waitwaitwait, it _was_ me!” Akko yelled. “Check my wand with that spell, the one that tells you what the last spell I used was pleaaassssseee! I want extra cake!” Diana smirked even more, stepping close to Akko and taking a lock of her hair in between her fingers, twirling it absentmindedly.

“Hmmm, so you lied to me? You know I don’t like liars, dear. Maybe I’ll give the cake to Amanda anyway.”

“B-But she lied too!” Akko whined, taking the blonde witch’s hand. “Why does she get extra cake and not me?”

“She can use it for something important.” The brunette girl cocked her head to the side, confused. “Don’t worry, darling, I did really like that little jinx. I’ll give you a reward later.” Diana leaned in at this, whispering in her ear.

Blushing furiously, Akko turned around and headed for the manor. “Okaaay girls, on to the next test: barriers and healing let’s goooooooo!!!” She ran into the building, drawing curious looks from everyone except Amanda and Diana, who shared a glance and giggled.

The group entered the reception hall where the manor staff had set up a small dueling stage; basically, just two small podiums on opposite sides on the room. With eight of them present, they split off into groups of four and stood at the opposite ends of the hall, preparing themselves.

“This one will be simple,” Diana began. “We’ll take turns launching mid-level jinxes at each other. You can pick whatever you want, but nothing dangerous, understood?” Nodding in agreement, the girls continued to focus on their blonde leader. “The goal is to block them with the barrier spell needed for the exam. Once you block three in a row, you can step down and let the next person up. After you finish this part, go to the side of the room. I’ll use a pain-blocking spell on you so I can inflict minor injuries for us to practice on. Don’t worry. It won’t be remotely dangerous, and we need to be sure we’re all ready for tomorrow.”

During the explanation, Hannah had snuck back in with the group. Diana quietly gave up her spot to her and went to sit at the side of the room, watching the duelers intently. First up were Akko and Barbara; Akko kept trying to launch laughing jinxes at the dark-haired British girl, but she easily deflected them. The brunette did quite well herself, blocking three for three and pumping a fist in the air as she stopped the last incessant dancing spell shot at her. Lotte and Sucy did just as well, but then Hannah and Amanda stepped up together.

Amanda had not noticed her return and was shocked to see her standing opposite her, eyes puffy and red. She grimaced and stood still, not prepared to confront her just yet. “Hey, Han, I… uh I’m-”

Suddenly, a jinx flew straight at her, the tall witch only managing to block it at the last second. “Whoa!” she shouted. “At least let me prepare fir-” Two more spells shot toward her in quick succession, and only her lightning fast reflexes from years of doing broom stunts kept her from being thrown into an itching frenzy. She opened her mouth to say something, but Jasminka put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, indicating her turn was over.

Frowning, the American stepped down, stealing one last glance at her girlfriend, saddened by the pained expression on her face. She lumbered over to the side of the room where Akko was struggling to seal the small cut on her arm. Diana was giving soft encouragement to her, and with great effort, she managed to heal herself, earning a quick peck on the cheek from her loving girlfriend. Lotte and Barbara had already finished and just returned from a run to the library for some books, and Sucy sat in a chair checking her list of potion ingredients.

Presently, the other three girls came over to do their healing check, and soon everyone was done. After a quick lunch of sandwiches and lemonade, they gathered outside once more where this time Akko took the lead. “Okay girls, last thing before the study session for the exam. See the scarecrow I set up over there?” The group followed her pointing finger to a tiny dot on the horizon. “You have to run there and touch him while dodging obstacles.”

“What obstacles?” Lotte asked, confused. “I don’t see any obstacles.”

“Well, that’s the fun part,” Akko said, grinning. “Anyone not running gets two spells to throw at the runner. Non-damaging spells, of course. Nothing that will harm the runner or the property, just things like wind or a splash of water. Oh, and you have three and a half minutes to get there. If you fail, you go to the back of the line and have to try again.”

“Three and a half minutes?!” the girls chorused, looking between each other.

“But that’s half a kilometer away, at least.” Sucy complained with a sea of nods accompanying her.

“Well then, you better be fast!” came the cheeky reply. “I’ll go first and show you how it’s done,” she added, sticking out her tongue. Now fully engaged, the spectators took up spots along the path, prepared to knock the cocky witch off track. As it turned out, however, her arrogance had some merit as she deftly dodged every spell thrown at her, only getting grazed by a gust of wind launched by Diana, but even then she managed to stay on her feet and reach the scarecrow in just under three minutes. “See, easy!” she panted, drawing annoyed looks from the rest of the girls.

One by one they went, each struggling to a different level. Amanda made it in about three minutes as well, though she would have done better if Hannah hadn’t blasted her off her feet with an unnecessarily strong gale, earning herself a scolding from Diana and Akko for being too rough. Diana also did quite well despite getting soaked by Sucy, who snickered as Akko berated her for using too much water. Lotte, Hannah, Sucy, and Barbara all barely made it their first time, but Constanze and Jasminka each had to take a second try to succeed, getting knocked off course by a flock of crows and a flying boxing glove respectively.

After taking some time to clean up and change, it was time to study. Much to Akko and Amanda’s chagrin, they were strictly not allowed to use memory spells to help them during the test.

“But if we remember it, then that’s what we’re supposed to be doing anyway! Why can’t we?” Akko complained, earning an annoyed response from Barbara.

“For one, the examiners are going to know you cheated with magic and disqualify us, so that is already a no. Beyond that, those spells are decidedly _not_ permanent and they always leave you in a fog once they wear off. If that happens in the middle of the treasure hunt, you’ll just become dead weight, so don’t even think about it.” The two girls groaned, but instead of fighting, they dug into their chairs and sat quietly reading along with everyone, occasionally asking for help from one of the others. Amanda tried repeatedly to get Hannah to help her, but each time the auburn-haired witch threw Barbara or Diana or Lotte at her and went to help someone else.

Soon, dinner time rolled around, bringing welcoming cheers from the two troublemakers. The girls piled into the kitchen and ate in glee after the long day of preparation. Devouring the plates of chicken, rice, and vegetables (after months of nothing but potatoes at Luna Nova, Diana had expressly banned them from the menu), they talked and laughed and had a generally wonderful time. After the main course was finished, Diana stood and raised her glass.

“A toast to friends, and youth, and to all of us coming together to conquer this treasure hunt.” The group just stared at her in silence while she slowly turned red, eventually stamping her foot on the ground. “W-What did I say that was wrong?”

Amanda and Akko burst out laughing, and the others joined in with snickers of their own. “No… nobody expected s-such a f-formal toast out of n-nowhere, Di…” the brunette managed to choke out between laughs. The blonde witch huffed and sat down, clearly embarrassed.

“Well, I’m sorry to have tried to be kind and welcoming,” she said, dejected. Akko immediately stood and wrapped her arms around her pouting girlfriend.

“Sorry, dear,” she cooed into her ear, holding her tightly. “We didn’t mean to make you feel bad. We were honestly really surprised, that’s it.” Diana felt a quick peck on her cheek as Amanda continued.

“Yeah, sorry Diana. It just felt so much like the old you that we haven’t seen in a long time. It was kinda funny and unexpected.”

“The old me?” Diana asked.

“Yeah, you used to be super stiff and formal and stuff all the time. Ever since Akko brought you back to Luna Nova, though, that’s been less and less true.” The blonde woman reflected on this and realized it was true.

“Then you make the toast, Amanda,” came a slow response. The American witch grinned and stood with a start, almost throwing her drink into the air in the process.

“Well, then, don’t mind if I do,” she started enthusiastically. “Girls, a toast. To the New Nine Witches, to a plan without hitches, and to the baddest bitches the world has ever seen, let’s crush this thing into the ground!!!” Everyone laughed and cheered at the declaration, downing their drinks together. Amanda grinned wide and looked for Hannah but saw her seat empty. Sadness taking her face again, she sat down in her chair and moped.

Momentarily, cake was brought in by the staff, with three pieces brought to Amanda, who looked confused by the abundance of dessert. Diana walked over and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Hannah likes to go to the south lounge when she’s sad here. That chocolate cake is some of her favorite, too.” Getting a nod of understanding in response, she went back to her seat as Amanda rose and left the room, dessert in tow. It only took her a few minutes to find the lounge and sure enough, she heard soft sobbing coming from within.

“Han? Babe? It’s me.” Pushing the door open slowly, the tall witch called out into the dark room.

“What do _you_ want?” came a choked reply.

“I brought you chocolate cake. Your favorite, unless I’m wrong.” Amanda said softly, looking around the room. Finding the English witch in an armchair in the corner, she slowly walked over and sat down in the chair next to her. The pale moon shining outside provided the only light in the room, soft rays dancing through the window. It was enough for them to see vague features on the other’s face but not much else.

Hannah glanced over at her tall girlfriend, a slight frown on her face. “Diana put you up to this, didn’t she?” she said sullenly. “She knows what cake I like and where I go.”

“Well, the cake _was_ her idea, and she was the one who told me you’d be here,” Amanda replied nervously. “But I was the one who wanted to apologize. I wanted to all day, I wanted to run after you right away, but Barbara stopped me and told me to let you calm down first. After that, you were being really aggressive with me, so I didn’t try to talk to you.” She held out the cake, not meeting the other girl’s eyes. Hannah eyed the dessert for a moment before sighing and taking it.

“Well, I guess I’m too tired now to kick you right out, so if you want to talk, this is your best chance.” She quickly ate a bite of the cake, humming softly in contentment at the taste.

“Okay.” Amanda took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Hannah, I am sorry. You had said multiple times that you do not like smoking or cigarettes. I, clearly, did not pay enough attention to this and upset you. I am really sorry, and I hope we can still be together, despite what I did to you.” The auburn-haired witch glanced at her girlfriend sadly, then sighed again.

“S’okay, Mands,” she started. “I never told you why, so you had no reason to expect me to react like I did. Besides, I should never have blown up on you in front of the other girls like I did. I’m being a bit of a child.”

“No, you aren’t.” Determination was in Amanda’s voice as she looked straight at the other girl. “No matter your reason, you told me you don’t like something, and I did it anyway. That is not your fault, it is mine.” To her surprise, Amanda heard a soft giggle break from Hannah’s mouth. “What is it?”

“I’ve never heard you so formal or apologetic before,” came the reply. “It’s kind of cute. You should do it more often.”

“Only when we’re alone,” Amanda said softly, looking over at the English witch, catching her eyes and giggling with her. “So, do you wanna talk about it, or do you wanna let this rest?”

“Um,” Hannah backed nervously into her chair, “s-sure, I guess.”

“Only if you want to, Han. We don’t have to if you aren’t comfortable.”

“No, no, I acted rudely toward you today. I should tell you.” She took her own deep breath and exhaled shakily, beginning to speak. “It’s not a long story. Basically, my uncle started smoking when he was really young, before I was born. Well, when I was five, he got lung cancer. Fancy that. He died a year later. Not even magic can cure everything.” A tear glinted in her eye, reflecting the silver light coming through the window. “That’s it, really. I don’t know. I guess I’m just scared of losing someone to that again. Especially someone I like as much as you. So when I saw you with that ‘cigarette’, I just kinda… freaked out.”

Amanda smiled and reached out to lay her hand on her girlfriend’s, gently stroking it. “Well, I’m not gonna do that to you, Han. Especially not now. Thanks for telling me.” They sat in silence for a couple minutes, content how they were “Babe, are we gonna be okay? I know we just had a little heart to heart, but are we gonna be good, or is something like this gonna happen again and again?”

Hannah thought for a moment, absentmindedly squeezing the taller girl’s hand. “I can’t say, Mands. Knowing us, you’ll probably pull something stupid again and I’ll probably get mad at you again. We haven’t been together for that long, so I have no idea. What I do know, however, is that right now, I really like you and want to stay with you.”

“Aww, how sweet, Han. I really like you too, obviously. I’ll do my best to not be such a disaster in the future.” Looking down at the now empty plate, she chuckled. “Want more cake, babe? I have two more pieces. Unless you wanna go join the others again. I think we’re doing movies tonight.”

“Let’s stay here a little longer,” Hannah replied, smiling in the faint moonlight. “I want a little time alone with you so you can prove to me that you’re really sorry.” Amanda grinned widely and swapped chairs, settling herself in the suddenly blushing girl’s lap.

“I think I can do that,” she said teasingly, leaning down to plant their lips together. “I think I can do that _very_ well.”

***

A little less than an hour later, the two of them rejoined the other girls in the lounge, slightly disheveled though no one could see in the dark room. They snuck in during the action movie Constanze had put on. Akko threw up a discrete thumbs up from her spot on the couch and quickly returned her hands to the blonde hair in her lap. Hannah and Amanda took one of the free armchairs and watched along with everyone else. Soon, the movie ended and a romcom was put on as per their tradition. Once that movie ended, it was close to midnight, and they all decided to turn in since the exam started at eight the next morning. They said their goodnights and split off to their rooms, falling asleep quickly, tired from the trials of the day.

Waking just before the sunrise, Diana roused the rest of the girls, reminding them that they had to fly to the test facility and be ready fifteen minutes before their slot. After a lot of grumbling from Akko and Amanda, the group ate a quick oatmeal breakfast before setting out and arriving in Glasgow at just after 7:30 AM. Checking in was fast, and then they had about twenty minutes before they had to start.

Amanda fretted over the brooms one last time before they needed to fly them, and Hannah was trying to console her. Constanze and Sucy were constantly checking their bags, making sure they had everything they needed since once they turned in their materials, they would not have the chance to get any more. Akko and Lotte were just freaking out in general, and their girlfriends decided to just let them ride it out for the time being, knowing that if they calmed down now, they would get back up there just in time for the tests.

Soon, the proctor came out to greet them and brought them into a large grey room the size of a sports stadium. There were floating trees and rings and even a floating waterfall, all presumably for the flying test. A small dueling platform sat off to the side, and a few tents were set up next to it. She announced that they would take the separate sections in groups of three, then turn in their materials and other forms at the end. The girls nodded in understanding and split up.

The exams passed with little issue. Akko had a gaffe on the broom obstacle course, clipping a tree and spiraling for a second, but she managed to finish out fine. Constanze struggled with that and the physical since she was so small and spent most of her time sitting in a lab, but she too made it through in the end. All of them had trouble with the written exam, which was much harder than they expected, though it seemed they all passed, barely in the case of Akko and Amanda. Fortunately, the dueling and healing went smoothly since they all had experience with that sort of thing, and none of them had pre-existing medical issues that disqualified them.

After submitting the potion materials and their magitech, the proctor told them to return after noon; they were the last group, and so they would be announcing which teams qualified around then. The girls thanked her and left to grab some lunch, famished by the difficult trials.

“Whooo!” Amanda yelled, cracking open a soda as they sat in the courtyard of an outdoor café. “Sure hits the spot, don’t it?”

“Yeah,” Akko replied, sipping on a glass of orange juice. “I’m kinda worried though. I messed up on the flying course. What if they don’t accept us?”

“Akko, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Diana soothed. “I hardly doubt only you messed up on that course. It was rather hard, as I’m sure you noticed from the rest of us. Besides, we all did well on everything else.”

“Yeah, and who even knows how many teams applied in the first place,” Amanda added. “For all we know, we could be the only ones.”

“Then why did they make us wait to tell us if we got in?” Akko continued, worry in her voice. “That means there’s at least eleven teams who applied. If we were the only ones who didn’t make it, I’d be really sad. Wouldn’t you guys?”

“Well, yeah,” Amanda said. “But we’ve done all we can do. Might as well not worry about it, right Han?”

“Actually, I’m with Akko on this one.” She had a look of worry on her face, though it was noticeably less so than the brunette girl’s. “We all put in a lot of time to this, and getting that class waived is dependent on us participating. Sure, we can’t do anything anymore, but I’m still worried.” Pouting, she took a drink of her tea to avoid saying more.

“How about this, babe? If we don’t get in, Diana and I will go to war with the committee in your and Akko’s honor?”

“Let’s not get hasty,” Sucy monotoned. “I’ll just brew a potion that’ll make them grow mushrooms from every orifice and not give them the antidote until they let us in.”

“Sucy NO!” Lotte said forcefully. “We’ve tried so hard to teach you how to behave. Have you learned nothing?”

“Nope.”

Constanze simply held up a screen that had the word “Arson?” written across it, receiving groans from everyone.

“Argh, guys stop, this isn’t helping!” Akko groaned. “I’m just worried, okay? I’m scared we’re not gonna get in and be let down and it’ll all be my fault.”

“Akko, no one is going to blame you if we don’t get in.” Diana took her girlfriend’s hand and leaned close to her. “This was a team effort. We do this together; no one person will be at fault. Okay?” She smiled and met the brunette’s eyes.

“Okay,” Akko smiled back weakly. They chatted and tried to relax for a couple hours until the noon bell rang throughout the city, telling them it was time to go back to the testing facility. Gathering up and paying their bill, the girls slowly walked back through the streets. Despite what Diana and Amanda had said, they were also quite worried.

Arriving at the building, they saw a bulletin board had been put up over the door. Nervously, they took each other’s hands and stepped forward to look. As expected, only ten names were up on the board, so it didn’t take too long to look, but their hearts were pounding nonetheless. Akko quickly saw a familiar name near the middle of the list.

“Guys, GUYS, LOOK! The New Nine Witches! IT’S US, WE MADE IT!” She was half yelling as she grabbed them all and pulled the group into a giant hug. They all squealed and jumped together, cheering. After a minute, Diana spoke up.

“Girls, I’m glad we made it, but we’re causing a bit of a scene. Let’s celebrate back at my place tonight.” Looking around, it was clear people on the street were staring at them, so they hopped on their brooms and flew back to the manor where Diana asked staff to prepare a feast for them and then walked off, explaining she had something to set up. The rest of them decided to take naps since they were still wiped out from the previous day.

Dinner time came around, and this time there was an entire roast turkey, plus squash and sweet potatoes and bread and jam and dressing. The girls’ eyes lit up at the site of the food and they ate quickly, scarfing down everything on the table in record time. Once they were finished, Diana stood to make an announcement.

“Alright girls, I know how hard we worked for all this, and I wanted to reward us for making it in. Consequently, I spent the afternoon setting up a hot spring in the back garden. I recall asking you all to bring swimwear, so whenever you’re ready you can get changed and meet us out there. That’s all.” She went off to change into her own but was stopped by a quiet voice.

“Hey Di?” Akko muttered. “I uh… I kinda forgot my swim stuff. I had to pack quickly at home and it got lost in all the stress and…” Diana just smiled and took her hand.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’m sure I have something you can wear.” She led her to her bedroom and started looking through her closet. “Let’s see, I have these two from when I was a little younger. They might fit you.” In her hands were a simple pink one piece and a blue bikini with a sash for the bottom.

“I’ll take this one,” Akko said immediately, grabbing the one piece.

“Are you sure?” Diana asked. “I remember last time you were sad about the dress we gave you being too childish. I feel like the two piece is a little more mature, don’t you?”

“NO!” Akko half shouted, pulling back right away and blushing slightly. “I… I mean I’m okay with it. I think it’s cute.” Diana cocked an eyebrow but decided not to ask any questions since Akko seemed to want her to not. They changed and went out back to find Lotte and Barbara already relaxing in the steaming water.

“Diana, how did you do this?” Barbara asked. “Making this much water this hot for so long must have taken a ton of magical energy.”

“Well, it did take a long time to heat the water, that’s true,” she admitted. “But after that, I just used a temperature maintaining spell. It was quite hard, honestly, but it should last for another few hours still, and it takes nothing to maintain.”

“Wow! It looks so nice,” came Jasminka’s lilting tones as she, Constanze, and Sucy exited the house and sank into the water. Soon, Amanda and Hannah joined them, and they sat out there in the hot water for a couple hours, occasionally sending someone inside for snacks or drinks. After a while, they were all sufficiently relaxed and the talk died down so that the only sounds were their breathing and the wind.

“Hey, does this water feel colder than it used to be to anyone?” Amanda asked sleepily.

“My spell must be wearing off,” Diana responded, untangling herself from Akko’s arms. “I suppose that means it’s time for bed.” She stood and waved her wand, bringing a stack of towels floating out from the nearby window. “Let’s go girls. I don’t want any of you freezing to death out here in the water.”

Begrudgingly, the rest of the group slowly got out and dried off, heading to their rooms saying goodnight. After such a peaceful evening, they all slept well and woke late in the morning. The next couple of days passed without incident; time was split between training and hanging out, doing fun things together like horse riding or fishing or star gazing. Soon, it was the last night before the event began and, just before dinner, there were visitors calling at the front door. Diana asked for them to be let in, and everyone was shocked to find who the two grown witches walking into the building were.

“Chariot? Croix? What are you guys doing here?” Akko asked, bewildered.

“We wanted to come wish you well before you set off tomorrow,” Croix responded, grinning.

“You’re our, well I guess my, students, and Croix helped prepare your magitech” Chariot added. “This is an exciting adventure for you all and we thought it would be nice to show our support.”

“Aww, thanks professors!” Lotte said excitedly. “But what’s in that box you have, Chariot?”

“Oh, this?” she responded lifting a small wooden box. “It’s a surprise for tomorrow. Open it in the morning before you set off.” They turned around and started to leave. “Well, goodbye girls. Have fun tomorrow!”

“Won’t you stay the night?” Diana asked, causing them to pause. “It’s quite late already, and getting back must be difficult considering… well…” She trailed off, not sure if she should finish her thought.

“True, it _is_ slightly harder to get around since I need someone like Croix here to help me fly,” the redhead admitted. “But we don’t want to encroach on your fun. You’re still young; you don’t need a granny witch like Croix to get in the way.”

“Excuse you?” came the fast response from the emerald eyed witch, causing everyone else to laugh. “I’m only a year older than you. Don’t start calling me granny.”

“See, grandma is tired and cranky,” Akko rejoined. “You two should stay the night so she can get her beauty sleep.”

“I swear, Chariot. I don’t know what you teach these kids, but you need a new lesson plan if this is how they treat their elders.”

“Oh? Their elders?” Chariot arched an eyebrow and held back a grin. “I guess you really are a granny. Come along, dear, I suppose we’ll have to stay anyway. I just remembered that you all need to fly to the location but can only bring in three brooms. Someone has to take care of your stuff while you’re hunting for treasure.”

“Wonderful. You can take the guest room on the far end of the living quarters. I assume you do not mind sharing a bed?”

“Nope, it sounds great to me!” Croix said while smirking, causing Chariot to blush and give her a quick smack with the back of her hand.

“Perfect. In the meantime, we were about to eat dinner. Please join us.” Diana smiled and led the way to the dining room, followed by everyone else. Akko snuck up to the front and whispered in her ear.

“Hey, Di? That’s my room you told them to stay in, right? Where am I gonna sleep then?” Diana just smirked and discretely laced their fingers together.

“In my room with me, of course. Remember I told you I would reward you for that cute rainbow prank?” Noticing Akko blush, she continued. “Don’t worry, I don’t have any heinous plans. I’m not Amanda. I just figured it would be easier than asking two of the other girls to share, and sleeping with you will calm my nerves. Is that okay?” The brunette witch nodded, smiling.

Dinner was a festive event. Everyone was incredibly excited to begin the treasure hunt the next morning, and they were all laughing and joking together as they ate. Croix, still being teased as a granny, was given the soft puddings and mashed corn, much to her chagrin. Afterwards, the teachers helped each girl go over their checklist for the hunt, and then there was tea and biscuits in the lounge while they all relaxed before heading to an early bedtime. The hunt started at seven in the morning, so they needed to wake up early.

Akko and Diana split off from everyone to go to the blonde’s room, where they bathed and changed before getting into bed. The brunette curled up into her girlfriend’s arms immediately, eliciting a giggle from her.

“’Night, Di,” she said sleepily. Diana said nothing, just squeezing her tight in response.

She awoke a couple hours later to Akko tossing and turning, which concerned her. “Darling, are you okay?” she asked.

“Mmph, yeah,” came the sleepy reply. “I’m just kinda warm, and I have trouble sleeping when I’m too warm.”

“You have underwear on, right? You can take your pajama shirt off if you want. I won’t mind.”

“No,” Akko said quickly. “I-I like this shirt. I’m way more comfy with it on, I’m just warm.” Diana frowned, brushing a lock of brown hair away from her girlfriend’s face.

“Is something wrong, dear? You seem uncomfortable about being undressed around me. First with the swimsuit and now this. You know I love you and won’t judge your body at all, right?” she said as soothingly as she could. “It’s fine if you don’t want to, I just want to know if I’m being too pushy or doing something that makes you feel that way.”

A pair of lips met hers for a brief second, and her eyes locked onto the other girl’s. “It’s okay, Diana. Don’t worry about it. I just… I’ll tell you when I’m ready. I know this is hard thing to ask of you, but try not to worry about it for now, ‘kay?”

“…okay. love you.” The blonde witch said, not feeling entirely better but aware there was nothing she could do at the moment.

“Love you too, Di.”

Early in the morning, before the sun had even peaked around the horizon, the girls were up and about, doing one final check ensuring they had everything they would need. Each was dressed for the hunt: Diana, Barbara, Hannah, and Jasminka had opted to wear their uniforms, Amanda, Lotte and Akko were wearing simple t-shirts and loose but rugged jeans, Constanze had on her lab outfit, and Sucy being Sucy was wearing her classic witch robes.

Once everything was packed, they got on their brooms and flew over to the Scottish Highlands where the entrance to their dungeon supposedly was. Arriving at six thirty, they saw they had been assigned a cave. Eating a quick snack, they prepared all their tools and got ready to say goodbye to Chariot and Croix, who they called them together.

“Remember I said I had a surprise for you all?” Chariot asked, getting nods in response. “Well, here it is.” She opened the box they brought, and inside were nine broaches of the Luna Nova logo. “You promised Headmistress Holbrooke, did you not?”

The girls were very happy with the broaches, pinning them to their shirts and uniforms. Presently, a proctor arrived on seen and verified that nothing illegal was being brought into the dungeon. At five to seven, he gathered them in front of the cave entrance.

“Very well, ladies. When I tell you, you may enter the cave. You will find your brooms, potion ingredients, and magitech just inside the mouth of the cave. If you want to request evacuation, use an _SOS_ spell. Any seemingly major injuries will be marked with a flash of yellow light above the member. If you do not have a handle on the injury within a minute, they will automatically be disqualified and removed for their safety. On the off chance the injury seems too dangerous to be left unattended, I will evacuate them immediately. Am I understood?”

The girls answered ‘yes’ in an excited chorus. The proctor smiled and looked at his watch. “Very well. The time is seven AM, and you may enter the cave. Begin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh boy, this chapter is a longer one. There's a lot I wanted to cover before the treasure hunt started, but I didn't want to start the hunt in the middle of a chapter, so this is how it turned out.
> 
> It's a little on the slow and boring side, but it's all set up for what will go on in the caves. I hope you can enjoy it!


	3. The Hunt Begins!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entering the cave, the girls begin the long awaited treasure hunt

Rushing into the cave, the girls first spotted a couple boxes on the floor. One was marked ‘Magitech’ and the other ‘Potions’; three potato sacks were leaned up against them. Sucy and Constanze immediately went to open the crates, checking that everything they submitted was there.

“Damn,” Sucy muttered. “They took away my dragon blood. That could have been really useful.”

“Is it illegal?” Akko asked.

“No, but it’s dangerous if mishandled,” she replied. “I guess they don’t trust a kid to use it safely. I hope they give it back after this is all over. It cost me a lot.”

“Conz, all your stuff there?” Amanda questioned, leaning over the small girl’s shoulder. A quick thumbs up told her it was, and she motioned for everyone to gather around her. She held out three sheets about the size of a piece of paper and signed ‘Treasure detectors’. Then, she grabbed nine bracelets and handed them out. After everyone put theirs on, she turned hers half a circle clockwise and a green light popped up. She snapped, and the other bracelets turned red and played the sound back.

“Excellent,” Diana said, smiling. “We have search tools and communication in case we get separated. Anything else for the rest of us?” Constanze nodded and pulled out necklaces. Clicking the center of one, it lit up brilliantly, noticeable even in the sunlight streaming through the cave entrance. ‘I’ll keep the rest until we need it’ she signed after passing the lights to everyone, attaching her enchanted storage bag around her waist. “Alright. Amanda, grab me those sacks. I believe they are where we store our treasure.” The orange and salmon haired girl tossed them over, and after a wave of her wand, Diana confirmed her suspicion. “I see. They’re enchanted to have a teleportation charm at the bottom. Anything we drop in will be sent to a different location so it doesn’t weigh us down.”

“Brooms, potions, magitech, collection bags, everything seems to be here; are we ready to start then?” Lotte asked excitedly.

“One moment,” Hannah interjected. “The proctor mentioned an SOS spell. DO we even have one? We should figure out what exactly we want to use.” 

“I recommend one of the ones from Introductory Magic,” Barbara said. She waved her wand and a siren blared from it, followed by a shower of red sparks.

“Are we sure that’ll get their attention?” Barbara asked.

“They’re clearly watching everything we do since they can remove us for injury,” the auburn witch replied. “If we agree on this now, they’ll know this is out SOS.” Everyone nodded and tried it out, then gathered up all the items.

“Okay, team. Let’s set out!” Akko shouted. Amanda joined her in running forward while the rest of the girls sighed in resignation and jogged after them. Darkness soon filled the cave as they went further in, so everyone lit their necklaces.

“Akko, do you even know what to look for?” Diana called down the cave.

“Huh?” came the confused reply. “Treasure, of course!”

“Yes, but what exactly is the treasure? They never told us what we’re collecting. For example,” she stooped down as she said this, pointing to a red gem in the ground. “This looks like treasure to me, and they’re everywhere. Perhaps we should be taking these.”

“But isn’t treasure usually in big wooden chests?” Amanda asked. “Besides, how are we supposed to get those gems out of the ground?”

“Like this.” Diana uttered a spell and pushed her wand into the rock near the gem. Instead of stopping on contact, in sunk down, and the blonde witch maneuvered it under the gem to flip it up like a pancake. It popped out of the ground and she placed it into her sack. “That spell is fairly simple. You two try it on those gems over there.” The two troublemaking witches gave it a shot and managed to pull out their own jewels.

“Hey Diana,” Barbara’s voice called from the way they came. “We’ve been grabbing gems from the floor and walls. You think that’s fine?” The rest of the girls walked into view, finally catching up to the frontrunners.

“Yes. In fact, I was just instructing our two friends here to do exactly that, since they were barreling on ahead. Did you collect much?”

“Not really,” Jasminka said. “We each got a few each. Conz’s detectors found a bunch a couple feet into the rock, but we had no idea how to get in that deep, so we passed them up.”

“Akko, Amanda, please stay at our pace,” Lotte begged. “This is a team activity, remember? We won’t win unless we work together.” They looked at each other and then back to the group, awkwardly rubbing their arms.

“Sorry. We were just really excited. We’ll try to stay back,” Amanda apologized. The group set off, much more slowly this time, taking care to search for gems and extract them from the walls or floors wherever they could. An hour went by this way, and they had barely gone a couple miles into the caves.

“Man, how deep does this go?” Amanda asked grumpily. “We’ve been walking for forever and it’s just been a straight line with sparkly rocks everywhere. I thought there were supposed to be monsters and real treasure. This is so boring.” Arms crossed beside her head, she leaned against a wall and pouted while a couple of the girls were digging out some gems.

“I’m sure that we’ll encounter something exciting soon, Mands,” Hannah said, dropping a ruby into one of the sacks. “Honestly, I’m more confused with this cave like you said. I didn’t know caves like this existed on the island.”

“Did they maybe dig it out for the competition?” Lotte asked.

“I doubt it,” Diana replied, dusting her skirt as she stood. “It would take a huge amount of effort to dig this, even with magic. I’m sure they just found a closed off tunnel and filled it. Let’s keep going.”

They continued on, stopping about half an hour later to take a short break where there were sloped rocks to lean on. Shortly after that, they entered a square room, perfectly cut from the rock walls. There was a fountain in the middle of the room. It was white marble and grandiose; at least ten feet tall and ten feet across with glistening spouts perched at various heights. On one side, it looked like a chest was submerged under the water.

“Look!” Akko shouted, bounding over to the fountain. “Treasure! Real treasure!”

“This is… not natural, at least,” Diana mused. “I suppose they must have altered the caves somewhat. No other way could this room be so perfectly square.” Hearing a groan of frustration from her girlfriend, she and the rest of the girls went to join her, only to see her flailing at the fountain.

“Akko, what are you doing now?” Sucy deadpanned. “We’re supposed to be collecting treasure, not dancing.”

“I’m trying, Sucy.” There was annoyance in her face as she frowned, throwing her arms at the water. “I can’t reach into the fountain, though. It won’t let me. You try!” she whined. Unconvinced, Sucy reached a hand down to grab the chest. Just as her fingers touched the water, however, they stopped. No matter how hard she pressed, her arm would not move down into the fountain. “See?!” Akko shouted, a victorious grin on her face.

The other girls tried as well, and all of them found that they could not touch the water. “Is it some kind of barrier?” Barbara asked. “Or maybe it’s an illusion and this is actually just a rock. Maybe they’re trying to trick us and waste our time.”

“No, I imagine this is a fountain with treasure on the bottom. Look at the floor. It’s wet, so the water has to be real. There must be an enchantment we need to break.” Diana waved her wand and a glowing green rope coiled out of it. Curiously, she lowered it down toward the water, but it too simply sat on top, not even getting wet. “How odd. I can’t detect a barrier of any traditional sort. Perhaps there’s a trick to it.”

They tried for at least twenty minutes to reach into the water and grab the treasure. Sucy poured a few potions on the surface, Diana and Hannah and Barbara cast various spells, and Akko and Amanda tried to casually sneak up on it (as though you can surprise a fountain). But no matter what they did, nothing would get past the water. Everything would just sit on top or roll off or deflect. Frustrated, Amanda declared they were wasting their time.

“Come on,” she grumbled. “I don’t wanna fiddle around here when there’s other treasure we can get.” Begrudgingly, the girls followed her toward the exit. Akko, in a last show of defiance, picked up a small stone and threw it at the fountain. Imagine their surprise when they heard a soft splash as the rock fell into the water. They looked around at each other, unsure what to think.

“Akko,” Diana said slowly. “Do that again for me.” The brunette picked up another rock and chucked it at the fountain, and sure enough, it plopped right in! An idea pricking her mind, the blonde witch walked up next to the fountain and asked for one more throw. This time, the rock bounced off the surface of the water, rolling on the stone floor for a second before stopping. Diana’s eyes lit up and she smiled widely. “It’s a proximity barrier, of course! When something living is nearby, it activates.”

She motioned for Hannah to come help her, and soon they wove a magical rope above the chest, weighted with stones. Each holding one end, they slowly backed up until they saw the loop sink into the water. Then, they pulled tight, feeling it secure around the wet wood. Everyone grabbed on and gave a mighty tug, and slowly but surely the chest scrapped against the side of the fountain, rising out of the water. With a chorus of cheers, the girls ran over and began to fill the sacks with the treasure in the chest. Goblets of gold, necklaces of silver inset with sapphires and emeralds, medals of platinum, coins of copper; there was a huge stash of valuables hidden within.

“Alright!” Amanda shouted. “Now this is treasure. This is what we came for. Great job Akko!” The brunette witch smiled awkwardly and scratched her head as everyone heaped their praise on her for quick thinking.

“Aww, you guys know it was an accident,” she protested. “I was just mad that we couldn’t do it. Honestly.” They laughed and finished grabbing everything they could find, leaving the room in much higher spirits than they entered with.

Again they were in a long hallway, seemingly with no end. This time, however, with the victory over the first puzzle still in mind, the going was much easier. As they trotted down the cave, collecting whatever gems they could reasonably reach in the walls and floor, they chatted and laughed easily. That stopped short when they reached a small, round room with three exits.

“What do we do now? Split up?” Barbara asked, worried. “It took all of us figure out that fountain trick; I’m worried going in smaller groups is going to make us less capable.”

“First things first,” Diana replied coolly, “is to figure out if any of these paths dead end.” She walked up to the hole on the far right and waved her wand, muttering a spell. A loud, high-pitched chirp flew out, and she held her hand up for silence. Twenty seconds passed, and she went to do the next one. After testing all three, she sighed and rejoined the group. “Well, either they’re all filled with sound absorbing material, or they don’t close for several miles. I think it is likely they reconnect further down the path.”

“So, we need to split up,” Amanda mused. She darted over to Hannah and grabbed her hand. “I call teaming with Han!” she shouted, grinning. 

“Slow down, Mands,” Hannah said, flushing slightly. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to break up into our teams? We have the most experience working with them.”

“That’s a good point,” Diana added. “Though, I wonder if three groups of three is best. Look, the paths are different sizes. The middle is the biggest, and the far right is the smallest.” She pointed to the holes and her point was obvious. “Perhaps we should break down into a 3-4-2 formation. But how do we pick the groups?”

“Well, you and Akko need to be the two,” Sucy monotoned. “You’re the best and worst witches here, so we should try to offset that. You also work really well together, so I don’t think there’s a better duo.”

“There was a compliment buried somewhere in there,” Akko grumbled, pouting. “I think the four should be Amanda, Hannah, Barbara, and Lotte. Hannah and Barbara work well together, Amanda is a good leader and flier, and Lotte’s fairy singing might come most in handy for bigger situations. Besides, those girls are hopeless and need their girlfriends for emotional support,” she teased.

“Oh, and you don’t?” Amanda shot back. “We all know you. As soon as something goes wrong it’ll be all ‘Oh, Diana, please save me Diana Cavendish, I need you. I’m a dainty little princess.’” She threw a hand to her forehead and swooned into her auburn-haired girl’s arms, eliciting laughs from some of the girls.

“This coming the girl who grabs her girlfriend saying ‘Let’s go find a room Hannah, I need to be alone with you right now, badly’ at least once every movie night,” the brunette retorted, smiling at the blush growing on both their faces.

“Enough fighting over who’s dumber and more in love,” Sucy cut in. “I’m not sure about these teams. It means Jasminka, Constanze, and I go together, and I feel like keeping potions and magitech together is a bad idea. Those are very specialized disciplines and should be spread out.”

“I suppose we could swap Hannah or Barbara for one of you,” Diana thought out loud. “You are correct that not spreading our specialists out is a poor idea on paper, but considering the three of you are just decent at regular magic, I think it works to have you group together. You have two of the most creative people on our team, and we can hand out some materials before we go. We need to split the brooms as well. The teamwork of Barbara and Hannah should be considered as well, since they don’t work amazingly with anyone not in our team.” This was met with protests from the duo, but even they had to admit she was right.

“I think these are the best teams we can make with these numbers,” Lotte commented. “Should we split up the stuff now?” As Diana. Amanda, and Jasminka each took a broom, Sucy nodded and rummaged through her bag, pulling out a number of vials. 

“These are basically smoke bombs,” she said, distributing two round bottles per team filled with an ashy dark grey gas. “Break the bottle and the entire room will go dark. You can breathe it in, but even magical light will have a hard time getting through it. These ones are powerful acids,” she added, holding what looked like empty vials. “They can melt through almost anything, so don’t even get a drop on your clothes or you’ll get a hole through your body. And these are mushroom forest spores.” They were thin vials with several long, purple strands inside. “Drop them on the ground and a bunch of big mushrooms with grow in a matter of seconds. They aren’t too sturdy, but they can give you quick cover.”

“Thanks, Sucy,” Diana said. “This is very helpful. Constanze, is there anything else we can get from you?” The tiny witch pulled out three beetle looking robots and passed them out, signing ‘they find each other’ afterwards. “Wonderful. At least we can get back together if we get separated.” She gathered everyone up once they had pocketed the goods. “Alright teams, I don’t want to do this, but clearly we’re splitting up. Call in on the bracelets every thirty minutes and when you find something you think is important. Stay safe; we don’t want anyone getting hurt and we don’t want to lose points to injury. No bravado, and no going after something you can’t handle. Am I understood?”

“Yeah!” the rest of the girls shouted together, bringing smiles to their faces.

“Very well,” the blonde girl added, smiling herself. “Break!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a little short, but that's because I wanted the next bit to stay as one chapter and that would be a really long chapter if this was included. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out in a week or less.
> 
> Sidenote, I headcannon Constanze as non-verbal, so she uses sign language when she can't write or have a Stan-Bot with her. Amanda and Jasminka are fluent since they live with her, and the rest of the girls are varying levels of fluent, with Akko and Diana being the other best ones


	4. Triple Tunnel Troubles!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group has split into three groups. What awaits them in their now separate journeys?

Sucy, Constanze, and Jasminka ambled down their hallway, seeing few gems along the way and not much on the treasure detector. The stone walls were changing as well; where they were a dark brown at the beginning of the cave, they were slowly becoming a light gray. Discouraged, the girls picked up their pace, hurrying more than they were used to. Soon, half an hour passed, and they heard voices coming from the bracelets.

“This is Diana, we have very little so far. Other teams, report in. Over,” she said, slight interference from how far apart they had gotten.

“Amanda here, nothing to say as well, over.”

“We have a couple gems but that’s it, over,” Sucy added.

“Understood. Remember, update if you get in danger or find something big. Keep on. Out.”

Sighing, the potion loving witch sped up a little. “Man, I hate moving this much,” she complained. “Why do I feel compelled to try so hard right now?”

“Is it not to have fun with your friends?” Jasminka asked. “You’ve been on several adventures with Akko and Lotte. I thought you liked them?”

“It’s always been more of a ‘Well, I’m here and I can’t leave’ kind of thing,” came the reply. “I would never have sought out many of those on my own.” A hand patted their shoulders so they turned to face Constanze, who signed, ‘Me too. Akko finds a way to drag us into stuff’.

“Well, that’s just how she is,” the Russian witch giggled. “It’s one of my favorite things about her. She’s just so much fun.”

“Sure, Jas. ‘Fun’. More like annoying.”

“But you still came out here, right?”

“That was for the class credit. Not for Akko.”

“Really? You saw her sad face and that didn’t move you at all?”

“No. I’m used to her puppy eyes. I’m stone cold by now.”

Suddenly, an alarm went off behind them. Constanze stepped forward and put out a hand to block them, signing ‘Wait. Something ahead’ with the other. They crept forward slowly, rounding a bend in the cave. It opened up into a big, natural chamber that glistened under their necklace lights with gems and gold all over the place. Even with the three lights shining, it was hard to see everything at once. Sitting in the middle of the room was a thick, blue, scaly body curled up on a pile of even more treasure. Every time it exhaled, a small plume of smoke left its nostrils. Sucy twisted her bracelet and spoke unnervingly calmly into it.

“This is Sucy, we have a dragon here. Over.”

“Do you know what kind? Over,” came a crackling British voice, maybe Hannah or Barbara’s.

“Blue, pointy head, spiked tail, four legs, two wings, maybe three meters long. Over,” she replied.

“It’s a western dragon for sure,” Diana’s clear voice rung out from the bracelet. “Might be Irish or Welsh. It’s young at that size, but they can still be fairly dangerous. Can you get past it? Over.”

“Probably, but that means passing up the only treasure we’ve seen since we split. I can probably poison it with something. Dragons are hard to kill, but some poisons will knock them right out. Over.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Amanda threw in out of nowhere. “Conz, I know you have that magic net launcher. Can that hold down a dragon? Over.” Sucy watched the German witch and translated as she signed.

“She says ‘Maybe if it’s tired or weak. If it really wants to escape, I don’t have anything to trap it longer than a minute.’ Over.”

“I think you should skirt the edge of the room and pick up what you can quietly,” Akko jumped in. “You guys aren’t as stupid as me, so you shouldn’t fight a dragon. Over.”

“Noted, we are smarter than Akko,” Sucy chuckled. “We will avoid confrontation. Out.” The three girls began to creep around the room, hugging the wall, grabbing whatever was in reach. Fortunately, there was actually a decent amount of treasure sitting around, theoretically from the dragon throwing it around as it slept. They had almost made it to the other side when the dragon’s tail swished in its sleep, whipping a goblet straight at Jasminka’s head. She managed to duck it, but she also yelped out of fear. Hearing the sudden noise, large scaly eyes opened up and scanned the room, landing quickly on the intruders.

With a roar, the dragon uncoiled itself and stood to its full height, coming halfway to the ceiling. “Uh, I don’t suppose you can talk like Fafnir can?” Sucy said hopefully. At the sound of her voice, the dragon roared again and rose up on its hind legs, crashing them down on the ground and causing the cavern to shake.

“Guys, the dragon noticed us,” Jasminka said nervously into her bracelet as the girls made their way toward the exit.

“What?” Amanda shouted through the intercom.

“Stay calm and get out of there!” Diana ordered firmly. “If you can make some distance, it will probably leave you alone to stay and guard its treasure.”

“Sure, yeah, just run away from the dragon. Got it, Di-” Sucy was cut off by a barrage of coins shooting towards them, barely getting out of the way. “Can anyone hear me?” she asked before noticing that her bracelet had a gash in it. It had gotten clipped by one of the coins.

“Sucy!” Jasminka shouted. “I’m going to distract the dragon. You and Conz leave. We need you both later in the hunt. I’ll catch up if I can. Here, take the broom.” Seeing them ready to argue, she stomped her foot and glared at them. “No discussing this. Go!” She pulled out her wand and ran back in, tossing the broom over to the puce haired witch, who glanced at Constanze. Sharing an understanding nod, they ran out of the chamber, leaving Jasminka alone with the dragon.

“Hello there,” she cooed as best she could. “I don’t want your treasure, okay? We just want to pass through. I’ll leave in a couple minutes, so don’t attack me please.” The blue, scaly giant eyed her, puffing out smoke every couple of seconds. Though she was careful to not make any sudden moves, Jasminka was so focused on watching the dragon she failed to notice she was inching closer to a pile of treasure at the side of the room. She bumped into it and fell, then heard a roar.

The dragon spewed flames at her, and she just managed to throw up a barrier and roll to the side in time to avoid being fried. Now terrified, the Russian witch ran circles around the edge of the room; dodging, ducking, doing everything she could to stay safe. “I’ve bought enough time,” she eventually thought to herself. “I should run for it.”

Dashing toward the exit, Jasminka was finally feeling exhaustion catch up to her. Her legs thudded on the hard rock floor as though they were filled with lead. “Just a few more steps,” she panted to no one in particular. The ground shook with the thundering roar of the dragon running right behind her. Just as she was about to reach the exit, it spewed a wave of fire at her, burning her back.

Suddenly, she was whisked off her feet right before a small rocket flew by her, exploding in the dragon’s face. An arm had locked with hers at the elbow and she was being pulled through the air under a broom. “Sucy!” she cried weakly. “What are you doing back here?”

“We couldn’t leave you.” The potion addict cackled, holding an empty bottle in her other hand. “Besides, I wanted dragon blood.” She set the pink witch down and pulled out another bottle, this one filled with a sickly green liquid. “Hit it again, Constanze!” A second small rocket flew through the cave opening, this time catching the dragon in its chest. Sucy flew over and threw the green liquid in its mouth as it bellowed in pain. Within seconds, its muscles faltered and it fell to the ground, twitching. She landed and carefully prodded it with a stone before opening its mouth and poking a syringe into the tongue, filling it with a cool purple liquid. Three times she did this, emptying her spoil into the empty bottle until it was nearly full.

In the meantime, Constanze had come back inside and started healing the burns on Jasminka’s back. They were at least second degree, as they had already started to blister, but with the tiny girl’s magic and a burn salve Sucy applied when she joined them, Jasminka was able to stand and walk in a few minutes, albeit slowly. She waved her wand and repaired her shirt to cover the wound as much as possible.

“Thanks, girls,” she said. “I was actually getting scared there.” Sucy shrugged and went to start collecting the treasure as Constanze looked awkwardly at the ground for a second before giving her a quick hug, blushing. She signed ‘Didn’t want you to get hurt’ and ran off to help secure everything that had gotten thrown around the room in the confrontation. The pink haired witch sat back down, deciding a moment’s rest was more important than marginally speeding up the process of bagging gold and gems.

Once they finished, they gathered by the exit to the cavern and left together, slowly because of Jasminka. “I didn’t know you brought the rocket launcher, Conz. Doesn’t that thing weigh a ton?” The small girl pulled up her sleeve to show a small tube attached to her forearm with a rocket already inside. “Ohh, you finally finished the portable one?”

Constanze signed ‘Yes, Croix helped’ and opened her bag, showing five more. ‘All I have left.’

“Those will be helpful. Thanks, Conz,” Jasminka replied

After about fifteen minutes, they arrived in a large, round room with grass from the floor up to the ceiling. Two other tunnels led into it in the direction they came from. “This must be where the three paths meet up,” Sucy said placidly.

“Oh, we should contact the other girls. I’m sure they’re worried,” Jasminka said, reaching for her wrist before realizing the bracelet had been damaged by the dragon’s fire. “Oh no, what do we do now? Yours is broken too, right Sucy?” She felt a tug at her wrist and Constanze raised her arm, twisting hers to talk mode.

“Hello? Girls? It’s Jasminka. Anyone there? Over.”

Almost immediately Diana’s voice rang out through the small speaker. “Are you all okay? What happened? We’ve been worried sick. Over.”

“I got a little hurt, but we all made it. Sucy and my bracelets got destroyed by the dragon when it attacked, but she and Conz took it out and got most of the treasure. We’ve reached a room with grass and exits from three tunnels; I think this is where they meet up. Over.”

“Stay there. We’ll regroup. The food and water should be arriving in an hour or two, and we need to be together to share it. Amanda, Lotte, Barbara, Hannah, any of you there? Over.” Silence rang for a few seconds before the broken, staticy voice of Lotte sounded.

“… serpent… fighting… can’t talk…” The sound cut out.

“Damn it,” Diana said. “We’ll check in soon. In the meantime, you three take a rest. I imagine the room is safe. Over.”

“Got it Diana. Let us know if something happens. Out,” Sucy said, plopping onto the ground.

Jasminka faceplanted, avoiding touching her burns to the ground, saying, “Oh, this is nice grass.” Constanze and Sucy joined her and pretty soon all three were dozing softly in the warm room.

***

Hannah, Amanda, Lotte, and Sucy walked side by side in the wide cave, chatting aimlessly to keep busy. Only ten minutes after the group split up, they found a pocket room with a lot of gems in the walls, according to Constanze’s detector. Deciding it was worth a look, they squeezed in and started blasting small holes in the rock, revealing beautiful minerals. They worked for a little while, and just as they were about to leave, their bracelets lit up. It was Diana asking how things were going.

Hannah was about to answer when Amanda cut in suddenly, saying they had nothing. After everyone signed off, the auburn witch glared at her American girlfriend. “What was that? We just found a ton of stuff. Why are we lying about out our progress?” Amanda shrugged.

“I dunno. I thought it would be cool if they thought we weren’t doing so hot, but then we swooped in at the last second revealing that we had a bunch stashed away, saving the team!” she yelled dramatically. Hannah shook her head and smacked Amanda on the shoulder.

“You’re an idiot. It’s all automatically counted anyway. How do we swoop in with a secret stash like that?” The two-tone haired girl thought for a second.

“Huh, yeah, you’re right.” She grinned and put an arm around Hannah. “Good thing I have such a smart girl like you who loves me.”

“Don’t press your luck, Mands,” Hannah replied, grinning herself. “Maybe I won’t help you anymore. You need to learn to take care of yourself.”

“But I like when you take care of me, babe,” Amanda teased. “It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Don’t you like that?” Before Hannah could respond, Barbara cut in.

“Enough flirting you two. Let’s keep going.” With acknowledging groans, they gathered the sack and broom and left, returning to the hallway. Five minutes later, they heard the bracelet going off again.

“A dragon?” Hannah said right before Barbara asked about it. They listened, Amanda chiming in to ask about Constanze’s net launcher. Once the other team decided to avoid the dragon, they went back to walking. Not even three minutes passed when they heard Sucy through the bracelet again, saying the dragon noticed them.

“What?” Amanda shouted. Diana advised them to run and Hannah was about to say something when Sucy’s line suddenly cut out. “Sucy! Sucy!!!”

“Diana, are you guys still there?” Barbara asked.

“Yes, we are,” she replied. “I think Sucy’s bracelet must have gotten damaged and they’re too busy running to respond.”

“What do we do?” Lotte asked, frightened. “We’re all so far away now.”

“We need to keep moving,” Akko said. “We can’t help them, so either they make it or they don’t. The proctors aren’t gonna let them die. If we sit around worrying, we have no chance to win this thing!” Thinking on her words, they all agreed moving on was for the best. The four girls walked on, disgruntled. Though they extracted the gems they passed, progress was slow as they were all worried about their friends.

“Guys, we need to keep moving,” Hannah urged. “I know it’s hard to focus, but if we can’t do our job, they’re gonna be disappointed when we all meet back up. It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah? And how do you know that?” Amanda said, irritated. “They’re fighting a _dragon_ , in case you forgot. My two teammates, who are not combat trained, are fighting a dragon. _Sorry_ I’m scared for them.”

“Hey,” Hannah said, stepping in front of her girlfriend with her arms crossed. “I’m just trying to help. Don’t give me attitude.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Let me try that again,” came the snide reply. “You’re right, Hannah. I don’t care at all about my best friends getting hurt. In fact, I welcome it, because I’m a bad person. There, better?”

“I never said that, Mands. I don’t think you’re a bad person. You know that, don’t you?” The auburn witch said, hurt in her voice. She tried to reach up and put a hand on the tall girl’s cheek, but Amanda turned her head and started walking. “What’s wrong? Did I do something?”

“Leave me alone, Hannah. You’ve been mad at me since that cigarette thing.” She walked off down the hallway, leaving Hannah alone with Lotte and Barbara. The couple looked at each other before reaching out to their friend.

“Hey, you okay?” Barbara asked, walking around to face her friend. Tears were in her eyes as she squeezed her arms tightly into her chest. “Have you two been fighting? We all thought you were fine after that night.”

“We were,” came the reply, chocked by sobs. “Well, I thought we were. We haven’t had an argument since, and she’s been extra nice and affectionate. I don’t know. Looking at it now, it feels like maybe she was trying really hard to act like nothing was wrong when it was.” The dark-haired witch stroked her shoulder awkwardly, unsure what to do.

“Hannah,” Lotte began uneasily. “I know we aren’t super close even though I’m with one of your best friends, but I want you to know I’m here for you. We had our… differences in the past, but you’ve been nothing but lovely these past months. I know Amanda pretty well since she and Akko would always get in trouble together. I’m sure she’s just stressed about the Jasminka and Constanze getting hurt. This whole thing _was_ her idea, after all.”

The three of them stood there for a minute before anyone said anything again. Hannah smiled a little and opened her mouth to speak when a scream railed through the tunnel. “That was Amanda!” she yelled. They sprinted down the hallway, entering a massive circular room. It was a mile across with ceilings at least five hundred feet high. Filling most of the room was a crystal clear lake with a small island covered in treasure in the middle and a river draining out of the room on one side.

By far, though, the most prominent feature of the room was the huge serpent looking creature rising out of the water, occasionally trying to ram its head into the rocks. It was immediately clear the serpent was not just randomly slamming the ground, however. The girls could see a small figure diving out of the way every time it came close, running for her life.

“Amanda!” Hannah, shouted as she ripped their broom from Lotte’s hands and jumped on, speeding toward the American. Just as the serpent was about to strike again, she swept by and picked her up, launching them both into the sky.

“Hannah?” Amanda said with shock in her voice. “How… wha-”

“Shut up and switch with me,” the other girl ordered. “That thing is fast and you’re a much better flier than I am.” The tall girl gulped and they managed to finagle their way around each other just in time for Amanda to drop them out of the way of the giant head smashing into the roof of the cavern. A few stalactites fell into the lake and washed down the river. “Damn, this thing might actually kill us before the officials can evacuate us.”

“Do you want to quit?” Amanda asked. “I wanna win this thing, but if it takes someone getting hurt, I’d rather go home a loser.” She whipped around, doing loops and hairpin turns, dodging the serpent at every turn, sometimes narrowly. As it turned out, her broom acrobatics were finally paying off.

“No!” Hannah shouted above the rushing wind in their ears. “That isn’t like you, Mands. You’re stronger than that!”

“But what if I’m not! What if I can’t back up my words? What if-”

“Hey! Amanda! Hannah!” They saw Barbara waving at them and shot down to meet her as Lotte launched bright green orbs at the other side of the cavern, distracting the monster. “Lotte and I recognize that thing. It’s a Mediterranean Sea Serpent. It was in Nightfall Volume 289. You can kill it by shocking it or dropping something big in its mouth to choke it.” Hannah eyed the ceiling and patted Amanda on her back.

“Fly us up there. I have an idea.” Amanda nodded and rocketed toward the ceiling while Hannah blasted the serpent’s head, taunting it. “Hey ugly! Yeah, you! Come after us!” Roaring in anger, the serpent turned away from Lotte to chase them. “There, those stalactites! Fly toward them!” she shouted. As they approached the ceiling, Hannah told Amanda to blast the sharp rocks while she attacked the serpent. Several large chunks of stone fell from the roof of the cavern as the serpent opened its mouth to roar again, lodging themselves in its throat. The four girls cheered as it struggled, and the flying witches went to join the other two.

However, on their way down, another smaller rock that had been left barely hanging on fell, striking Hannah on the head and causing her to drop toward the lake. “HANNAH!!” Amanda shouted, her voice echoing in the massive room. She shot down and caught her just before she crashed into the water, flying them back to the lake shore. “Hannah, no nonono no no…”

“She’s bleeding,” Barabra said as a flash of yellow light exploded over the collapsed girl’s head. “We only have a minute to help her.” She and Lotte began to try to heal her as Amanda cradled her in her arms, crying.

“Han, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” Though there were tears in her eyes, she wasn’t sobbing; her voice was strained and weak, and it barely came out. “I brought us here. I messed up again. I didn’t notice and let that rock hit you. If I wasn’t so stupid and hadn’t gotten mad at you for trying to be nice, we wouldn’t be here with you hurt. I just keep making problems for all of you…”

“Shhh…,” came a faint reply. Hannah reached up to cup her girlfriend’s face. “Mands, I don’t care if this is your fault. Don’t let that stop you. Keep going. Fight through this in my honor.” Now the tall girl audibly cried.

“Hannah, I’m an idiot for treating you like this. Why do you keep coming back to me?”

“I don’t know. You might be an idiot but you’re _my_ idiot, and for some reason I love you. We’ll talk after this is all over, but I still think we can make this work. So go win for me.” She leaned up to gently kiss her, and a green light wrapped around her body. A moment later, she disappeared, leaving Amanda’s arms empty. The tall girl sat still, staring at her hands.

“Amanda?” Lotte asked cautiously. “Are you okay?” She wiped her eyes and stood, determination in her face.

“No,” she replied, stone-faced. “No, I am not okay. That’s why I have to go on, so I can make it up to Hannah. I’m going to get the treasure on that island. Meet me at the other side of the room.” Hopping on the broom, she flew away, leaving Lotte and Barbara alone. They looked at each other before setting off for the exit. About the time they got to the tunnel, Amanda arrived and got off the broom.

“Sucy, Jasminka, and Constanze are okay,” Lotte said. “They called in while you two were taking care of the serpent. They found a room where the three tunnels come out, so we’re all gonna meet up there.” This softened the expression on the tall witch’s face, who smiled for the first time in a while.

“Let’s go, then.” After walking for about ten minutes, they too found the grass covered room with the three girls who already made it passed out on the ground. “That looks so nice.” Amanda muttered. “Wait, did you ever tell the others we’re fine?” Lotte turned red and shook her head.

“No, I forgot. We should tell Diana and Akko we’re okay.” She twisted her bracelet and spoke into it.

“Diana? Diana? Can you her me? Over.” A minute passed and there was no reply. “Well, I guess they’re busy.” She looked again at their sleeping friends and smiled weakly again. “I like their idea. Let’s get some rest.” The three of them laid down and were also quickly asleep, everyone quite needing the rest.

***

Diana stomped her foot on the ground in frustration as she hung up the bracelet. “I wish we could do something for Amanda’s group,” she growled. A pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders and she felt a face nuzzle into her neck.

“I know, Di. I wish I was there to help with the dragon, too, but they came out of it safe. I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Akko said, comforting the blonde girl. Diana’s hands reached up to hold the arms gripping her tightly.

“I’d feel better if we were accomplishing anything on our side, but there haven’t even been any gems for us to collect.” She sighed heavily. “This sucks. I hate feeling useless.”

“You know, Diana, usually I’m the one who gets frustrated and whines,” the brunette said teasingly, giving a soft peck on the cheek. “This is a side of you I don’t know super well.”

“It’s your fault,” came a quiet reply. “I used to be so composed all the time before you snuck your way into my heart and snapped it open. I’m a lot more fragile and unstable than I used to be.” She turned and smiled before breaking from the embrace. “It’s definitely worth it, though. I enjoy feeling actual emotions now. And… yes, I feel better because of your affection, so thank you.” A giggle escaped her girlfriend’s lips before they started off down the hallway again.

Though they weren’t talking, neither one was upset at the other. Despite Akko’s constant stream of energy, the two of them had become very comfortable with spending time in silence together. Sometimes they would sit together in a room for hours saying nothing, doing their own thing. It was peaceful, to just… _be_ together.

Pretty soon, there was a sound of rushing water, audible for about five minutes before they found its source. It was a river, maybe thirty feet across, the current moving quite fast. It was long enough that their lights couldn’t see an end or a beginning to it. “Well, this is boring,” Akko said dejectedly. “We can just fly across on the broom.” Diana nodded and in less than a minute they had nearly crossed when Akko shouted. “Wait! I see treasure!”

“Where?” Diana asked, looking around.

“There,” the brunette said, pointing to the rushing water. “See? There’s a bunch of chests at the bottom of the river. I could turn into an octopus and grab it!” She untied the sack from Diana’s waist before she could say anything and waved her wand, yelling “ _Metamorphie Faciesse_ ”. Now an octopus, she fell into the rushing river with the bag in one tentacle.

“Damn it,” Diana grumbled, flying lower to the water. “Akko, you need to wait for me next time.” She sat in the air nervously while the water-dwelling witch worked, collecting whatever she could. Suddenly, she saw several stalactites tumbling downstream out of the corner of her eye. “Akko!” she shouted, painfully aware the girl couldn’t hear her.

She watched helplessly as one of the rocks smacked directly into the octopus, deactivating her spell and returning her to human form as she was swept away by the current. Speeding forward, Diana waved her wand and created a magic lasso that she looped around the brunette, yanking her out of the water and catching her. She brought the broom down far away from the edge of the river and shook her girlfriend, a yellow burst of light cracking over her head.

“Akko!” she cried, looking her over. The Japanese witch’s shirt and jeans had been torn up from being bashed into all the rocks on the river bottom, and she was bleeding all over. Whipping out her wand, the blonde started muttering incantations, drawing a ball of water out of Akko’s lungs, causing her to sputter and take a deep breath. Saying another spell, Diana put a ball of fire on the ground next to them, the heat radiating from it warming them both.

“Don’t talk. I’m going to help you, okay?” Akko nodded, eyes unfocused, as Diana started to heal her. Pretty soon, a green light began to envelop her, causing Diana to freak out more. “NO! I can fix this!” she yelled. The light went away, and she took a deep breath. “Akko, listen to me. If you want to stay in the competition, I need to heal you fully, and to do that, I need to get better access to your wounds. I need to take you shirt and pants off, okay?”

Fear filled the girl’s face, but she nodded, trembling. First the blonde witch pulled off the torn jeans and pressed her wand to the various cuts and bruises, stroking Akko’s brown hair comfortingly as she went. She quickly finished and grabbed the hem of her shirt with one hand, immediately causing her to flinch. “Sweetheart, I know this is hard for you, and I know there’s a reason why. I won’t make you do this, but if you say no, we’re going to have to evacuate you. It’s your choice.”

For a moment, the brunette sat still. Then she nodded, meeting the blonde’s eyes. “I trust you Diana,” she said. “Please don’t get upset,” she added under her breath.

Diana carefully pulled the wet shirt off and dropped it next to the fire with the jeans. She began to heal the injuries on the front, not noticing anything Akko would be afraid of her seeing. Gently she began to turn her over when the brunette went rigid. “Are you okay, Akko?” she asked soothingly. Though she got a nod in response, Diana could tell she was scared. Carefully, she started to work on the injuries covering the girl’s back. She had nearly finished when she noticed a patch of discolored skin near the center of her back.

It was a scar, shaped vaguely like a star. It didn’t seem like a normal scar, either. There were no signs of cut skin or contusion. More than anything, it seemed like a burn, or... “Akko, dear, what is this scar from?”

“Umm…” she replied nervously, not meeting her girlfriend’s eyes. “I-I don’t r-remember.”

“It’s pretty big, but it doesn’t look like a cut or a bruise. It almost looks like it could have been caused by magic…” She trailed off, flashing back to a memory from long ago, one she had almost pushed out of her mind. A memory of her shouting “ _Murowa_ ” and a certain brunette witch diving in the way of the blast. A scream piercing the air as she fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Her eyes filled with water, turning red.

“I did this…” the blonde choked out.

“Diana…”

“I b-burned you. I scarred you. It was m-me.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she said this, beginning to shake. “I was mad at you for n-nothing, for trying to help, and I recklessly shot a dangerous spell at you. This is my fault.”

“No, it’s not,” Akko said more firmly, trying to turn over and sit up.

“Yes it is!” Diana half shouted. “I cast the spell that hurt you! I’m to blame! Me!” She pulled her uniform over her head and conjured a burning piece of wood, facing her back to her girlfriend. “Here, b-burn me b-back. Make me hurt. I-I deserve i-it.” Shivering, she waited for a few seconds, dreading the pain to come.

Instead of a searing heat, however, she felt a soft warmth of arms around her waist and lips on her back. Even more tears fell as she shook harder, unable to understand the love being shown to her. “Why?” she asked through sobs. “Why? I don’t deserve this. You should hate me.” She felt herself being turned and blue eyes met red. Akko pulled her close, pressing their torsos together, the shared warmth of their bare skin touching calming her heartbeat.

“Because I love you,” Akko said softly, smiling. “I love you, and it wasn’t your fault.”

“But I-” Diana was cut off by a surprise kiss blocking her mouth. She melted a little, allowing the brunette’s arms to cradle her.

“I know you don’t like when I do that. But sometimes, you need to stop talking and there’s no better way to make you shut up.” Akko giggled, brushing a lock of blonde hair out of her girlfriend’s face and pressing their foreheads together. “Diana, please listen to me. Yes, you shot the spell that scarred me. But _I’m_ the one who willingly jumped into it like an idiot. _I’m_ the one who never went to get treatment for it. This is much more my fault than yours. I accept that, and I’m not mad at you for it.”

“But then why did you hide it from me?” Though her tears had stopped, the normally piercing blue eyes puffy and filled with sadness.

“Because I was embarrassed of being so stupid. _And_ I was worried you would react like this. I wanted to keep you from remembering, from feeling the pain of regret.” Her words were quiet and dripped with love, and they comforted the blonde girl. “I could never hate you.”

“Even after what I did to you? How?” came a soft whisper. Akko sighed and combed her fingers through the blonde hair.

“You aren’t the same person you were. You saw different perspectives and learned from them. I believe genuine change can redeem anyone, and you, my love, are no exception.” She heard a soft giggle that slowly grew into genuine laughter. “Diana?”

“For someone who speaks English as a second language, you sure can smooth talk me when you feel like it.” Akko joined her in laughing.

“I practice just for you.” They sat in each other’s arms just breathing together for a couple minutes before realizing they were embracing half nude. A furious blush quickly covered their faces as they dressed, coughing nervously.

“Well then,” Diana began. “I suppose we should be off. No need to dawdle in romantics for an hour. We have plenty of time to do that after the hunt is over.” She marched on toward the exit vaguely visible on the wall a ways away.

“Hey, Di?”

“Yeah?”

“I promise I don’t hate you. I promise.” Akko stared at her, face tinged in worry. “Do you believe me?”

“Of course I do, Akko.” The blonde smiled widely and looped their arms at the elbow. “I believe everything you tell me. You can’t lie to save your life, after all.” They laughed again and walked for a short while, unaware of sounds coming from their bracelets, relishing in each other’s company. Soon, they found themselves in a room decorated in grass and sleeping girls.

“It’s everyone!” Akko said in a hushed shout. Seeing them knocked out like that made her feel dizzy. “Whoa, I just crashed. I guess getting thrown down a river tires you out.”

“They have the right idea,” Diana agreed. “We need rest. That was exhausting.” She lay down and patted the grass next to her. “Care to join me, dear?” Akko smiled and snuggled up to her chest. Though they both wanted to sleep, it took a little while for them to sort out the thoughts and worries running through their minds. Eventually, however, they too drifted off to a content sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this one was tough to write. Not only am I inexperienced at writing action sequences, I went over it several times to try and make the dialogue and emotional peaks feel real. I hope I accomplished that. The poor girls aren't even halfway done with the hunt, either, so there's a lot still to come. This is turning out to be much longer than I expected. So that's exciting.
> 
> I know Diana and Amanda feel a bit out of character with how wildly emotional they're being, but I'm trying to justify it. Diana repressed her emotions for a decade, so when she relaxed it makes sense to me that she would be really bad at handling them; I know it worked that way for me. Amanda I feel is one of those people who act like they're hard but they're actually soft on the inside when it comes to the people they love, so I'm working with that.
> 
> The next chapter is actually mostly written, but I'm gonna spend a while editing it, so don't expect an early update like this was. Saturday, at least.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. I Love You Despite Our Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The further the girls get into the cave, the worse things seem to be going...

A soft, warm wind woke Diana from her deep nap. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and glanced around the room in confusion. There was no way wind should be blowing this deep underground. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted large wicker basket surrounded by her friends. She untangled herself from Akko, who groaned in displeasure at her sudden freedom, and went over to them, the brunette training behind her and yawning loudly.

“Hey Akko and Diana,” Lotte said. “This basket just appeared like 30 seconds ago. We think it’s the food.” They opened it to find bread, meats, jam, and some fruit inside. There was also two pitchers of water and eight cups. Hungry, the girls quickly set to making sandwiches and split up the fruit so they could begin eating. Diana looked around at the group before scrunching her eyebrows and frowning.

“Where’s Hannah?” she asked. Amanda, Barbara, and Lotte looked at each other and sighed before Amanda spoke up.

“Well, you see…” she explained the battle with the serpent, leaving out her fight with Hannah. Diana and Akko shared their story and similarly left out their emotional confrontation. Sucy told them of the dragon encounter, and upon hearing of Jasminka’s injury, Diana’s face hardened, and she ordered her to remove her shirt.

“Diana, please don’t worry. Conz and Sucy fixed me up,” she said, disrobing.

“Not very well,” Diana said after she saw the burn, glancing at the two girls. “No offense. This is bad, Jasminka. You’re going to be feeling this for at least a month. Burns are some of the worst injuries to receive.” She sat and spent a good five minutes healing the injury, groaning when she finished. “I would do more, but then I’d be too tired to do anything. I made it so you won’t feel pain, but some of the damage is still there. If we get in danger again, I want you to evacuate yourself, understood? More injuries on top of this will really affect you in the long term.”

“Okay Diana,” the pink haired girl said. “I’m surprised at how dangerous this is turning out to be.”

“It _is_ kind of crazy,” Amanda said. “I know they had that note about death and maiming, but I didn’t expect dragons and giant sea serpents. We really need to stick together.”

“It’s too dangerous to split up again,” Diana agreed. “Let’s have Akko and Jasminka in the back for now since they’re injured. Amanda and I can be up front, with the other four in the middle. Everyone fine with that?” Nods and ‘yeahs’ all around spelled agreement and they set off down the new tunnel.

There were gems a plenty all along the walls and floor, but the girls decided they wanted to save their remaining strength for whatever they might encounter. They soon came to a large room split by a huge chasm. It was so big that their lights barely illuminated the wall on the other side. A rickety looking rope bridge spanned its entire width, though no one thought it was a good idea to actually use it.

“Well, we have three brooms,” Diana said. “We can get everyone across in two trips. Let’s go.” She, Amanda, and Barbara hopped on their brooms and yelled “ _Tia Freyre_ ”. Nothing happened. “Is our magic not working she wondered?” A glowing mouse ran across the floor, and Akko responded.

“Mine is,” she said. “And there’s nothing special I’ve done, so you guys should be fine too.”

“This is really weird,” Amanda added. “Can you enchant a room so brooms don’t work?”

“You can, but I don’t see why that would be the case here,” Diana responded. “This _is_ a treasure hunt, isn’t it? There’s no good reason to force us to cross this dangerous bridge just for that.”

“Maybe it’s a test of strength,” Lotte said. “The best stuff is on the other side and we need to prove we’re worthy. Nightfall had an arc like that. I think it was Volume 261?”

“262. Edgar had to swim through magic shark infested waters to get to Belle. It was _sooo romantic_!” Barbara squealed as Lotte took her hands and joined her.

“Yes! He got bit on the leg and then Belle had to bandage it and they looked tenderly in each other’s eyes as he was slowly bleeding out…”

“I think we have to take the bridge,” Sucy cut in. “We can’t fly, and there’s no other way across that won’t take all of our magic.”

“One at a time then,” Diana said. “We don’t want to risk breaking it. I don’t think anyone here trusts it.” The girls nodded and gathered at the edge of the chasm.

“Let Jas and me go last,” Akko suggested. “We’ll take the longest, and we don’t want to make you guys have to wait behind us.” Diana nodded and started to cross. She was halfway there when a bellow echoed through the cave.

“What was that?” she yelled at her friends who were stood still in shock. But then, she saw it. A bull, ten feet tall, sprinting at the girls. “Bulls can’t sprint though,” she thought right before she realized it. “Oh Jennifer…”

“Minotaur!” Amanda shouted. “Split!” Every one of them dove out of the way as the Minotaur barreled toward the bridge. Noticing the blonde witch making her way back, she shook her head. “No Diana, get across! We need at least one person to make it!” A grimace crossed her face as she pivoted suddenly, barely dodging another ramming charge.

“Forget one at a time!” Akko shouted. “Start crossing!” Constanze and Lotte, the two closest to the bridge, immediately ran onto it. Barbara and Sucy joined them as a spell flew past them, nearly searing their ears. It struck the Minotaur right in its chest and blew up in a ball of fire. When the smoke cleared, the bullman just shook his head and roared.

“ _Murowa_!” Diana shouted, sending another fiery blast over the heads of her friends toward the monster. This time, while it was distracted by the spell, Akko ran up to it and threw her vial of acid at its face. The glass shattered and the Minotaur bellowed again, even louder this time, pawing at its eyes.

“NOW!” she yelled, grabbing Amanda and Jasminka, pulling them as she ran to the bridge. The other girls had finished crossing and were calling for them, casting spells on the bridge to make it more stable. Akko started across, followed by Amanda then Jasminka. They were almost halfway there when the bridge shook. Turning around, they saw the minotaur had been blindly running around, but it found the bridge and started to stumble across it, slowly but fast enough that they could not outrun it.

“We won’t make it,” Amanda said. “The bridge won’t hold.” She and Akko felt something wrap around their waists and looked down to see green ropes tying themselves and followed their lines to the other girls on solid ground. But, the origin of the ropes was…

“Jasminka?” Akko asked.

“My burn is killing me. I’m too hurt, I’ll just slow you down,” she said with a smile. “I’m gonna cut the bridge. Win this thing for me, okay?”

“Jas, I’m not leaving you behind.” Amanda said, trembling. “I already lost Hannah. Not you too.”

“No Amanda.” Jasminka shook her head. “You aren’t leaving or losing me. I’m going on my own terms.” She waved her wand and a blast of wind pushed the two other girls further across the bridge. Then, she swiped it at the ropes binding the wooden slats together, splitting in cleanly in half. Immediately it started to collapse.

Akko and Amanda swung and slammed into the wall, but they were okay, caught by the magical ropes binding them to the ground and throwing up barriers at the last second. All the girls watched in horror as Jasminka fell alongside the Minotaur. Then, the sound of a siren filled the cavern while red sparks shot out from her wand.

“Jasminka!!!” Amanda shouted. A green light quickly enveloped the pink haired witch, whisking her away in midair, a few dots of magic floating where she once was. The Minotaur fell still, soon disappearing from sight. Amanda felt a tug at her waist, and then she was rising; the other girls were pulling her and Akko up the side of the cliff. As soon as they were set on solid ground, Diana and Barbara began to heal them. It only took a couple of minutes before the bruises on their backs went away, so they stood, groaning.

“That was a close one, huh Amanda,” Akko said, trying to be cheerful. “Fortunately, we made it.”

“Yeah. _We_ made it,” Amanda shot back bitterly.

“W-What?”

“Jasminka didn’t make it. I couldn’t help her. _Again_.” She grimaced and kicked a rock into the wall. “Just like with Hannah, I sat by and watched as my friend, someone I care a lot about, disappear, while I did nothing.”

“Amanda…”

“Why am I _so_ useless?” Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, “I act like I’m this bad bitch when I can’t do anything for the people I love. I-”

“Amanda.” Diana was firm in her interruption. “Jasminka was already quite injured. Maybe you couldn’t tell, but her burns were bad. _Really bad_. She was probably going to leave in an hour or two once the pain came back. This was for the best.”

“Yeah, and I wasn’t there to protect her from getting burned in the first place.”

“Well, that’s not how the teams went. You asked to be with Hannah, and putting you guys with Lotte and Barbara made sense.”  
  


“Right, so instead I went with Hannah, pissed her off and ran away alone, causing us to have to fight the serpent without a plan, and let her get hit in the head by a rock while I was flying.” Her jaw was flexed as she tried not to let her emotions pour out her eyes. “I can’t do anything right.”

Just then, she felt a tug on her sleeve. Constanze signed ‘Amanda, please. It’s okay’. Amanda sighed and put her arm around the short girl’s shoulders as her face fell back to neutral.

“You’re sticking by me the rest of the way, Conz. I’m not letting _anything_ happen to you.” She tried to smile, but everyone could tell she was not okay.

“Well, we need to keep going,” Diana said. “I don’t like what’s been happening. That Minotaur was too much. I’m worried if we stay here, something else will come.” The others agreed and, once more, they set off down the path. Pretty soon, they found yet another round room, only this time, it was filled with nothing but chests.

“This seems suspicious,” Diana said. “Only treasure?”

“Maybe it’s a reward for getting so far into the cave!” Akko said excitedly, running into the room followed by Amanda, who was dragging Constanze behind her, though it was unclear if she was excited or simply looking for a distraction.

“Does it feel like something in here is cursed? I have a weird chill in my stomach,” Barbara asked, shivering. A small light glowed next to her as Lotte spoke quietly to a fairy. “Are they saying anything?”

“It sounds like there’s a curse somewhere in here, but it doesn’t seem dangerous,” the ginger girl replied. “I think we’ll be okay for now, but we should still be careful.” They spread out and joined the As in searching for treasure, avoiding anything that felt too dangerous or magical. For the most part, they were collecting a ton of stuff, and they worked for at least twenty minutes sorting through everything in the room. Pretty soon, there was only one more chest tucked away at one edge of the room.

“Careful Akko,” Lotte called out. “There’s supposed to be a curse in here and we haven’t found it yet.”

“Don’t worry, Lotte, I’m sure this is fine,” she replied, grinning. She ran over to the last chest and Diana immediately got a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I think that’s the cursed one,” she muttered to the girls next to her. Her eyes went wide and she sprinted towards Akko as the girl reached the edge of the room and grabbed the lid of the chest. As soon as she opened it, a faint gray smoke spilled out, enveloping her. “No, wait, Akko!” Diana screamed, reaching out a hand, trying to grasp her. Everyone else ran to join them. Akko’s body shuddered as the smoke entered her mouth; she went relaxed, then rigid, and the color drained from her uniform, the luscious purples and reds becoming a dull brown. She looked around the room, stopping and staring straight at Amanda, whose mouth was hanging open. The tall girl blinked once, twice, and then spoke.

“Akko, you idiot,” came a defeated mumble. This struck the brunette witch, who immediately glared at her.

“Oh, what, Amanda? Are you saying _I’m_ a dumbass for opening this chest? Like I’m the only one around here who does stupid crap all the time,” she spat, venom in her voice. The girls looked at her, shocked at what the sweet, endearing witch said. “If I didn’t do it, it would have been you. Remember that time when you STOLE a forbidden enchanted broom to cheat in the race, and then it almost KILLED me? Or that time you stole a pie with me from the kitchen and ran away, leaving me to deal with Finnelan alone? Huh?” Amanda, for once, was at a loss for words. They all were. But then Barbara stepped forward.

“Akko, calm down, she wasn’t try-”

“Shut up, Barbara,” came the cold response, cutting her off. “You get to say NOTHING to me. You and Hannah spent months, MONTHS, antagonizing and bullying me, and now you and Hannah get to act like none of it ever happened?”

“Hey Akko, leave Hannah out of this,” Amanda said angrily, balling her fists.

“Why? She never left ME out of her anything. She tried her absolute hardest with Barbara over here to make me quit being a witch! Every single DAY! And now, you and Lotte run around kissing them and loving them like they’re perfect little angels! I thought you were my friends.” She turned toward Sucy, continuing her tirade. “Sucy was never my friend, of course. I thought she was, but thinking about it, what kind of friend tries to actively poison me in my sleep EVERY NIGHT? Come on!” Sucy seemed to be the only one unaffected by Akko’s rage, carefully mixing a potion. “Oh, great, and now you’re ignoring me. I guess you really don’t care, do you?” She turned her attention to Constanze, who frowned and signed ‘We do care, Akko’.

“Oh yeah? _You_ care, Constanze? The one who threatened me with _guns_ every time I tried to help you and only stopped when you decided to have me do all the dangerous errands?”

“Akko, leave my teammate alone,” Amanda started, stepping toward her.

“Shut up, Amanda. Jennifer, you’re such a stupid idiot. No wonder Hannah hates you.”

Diana broke out of her shock and put a hand on Akko’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Dear, you’re under a curse-”

“YOU DON’T GET TO TOUCH ME!” Akko spun quickly as she shouted, throwing Diana’s hand off her shoulder and staring her down, her red eyes the only part of her not draped in gray, making her look frighteningly evil. “You, Diana Cavendish, are the worst one here.” Diana took a step back at this, trembling slightly.

“Akko, I-”

“You have always looked down on me. First, for my love of Chariot, who you called an embarrassment. Then, for my dream to be like her, to spread happiness and joy, you called that childish.” With every sentence, she took a step forward, pushing Diana back toward the wall. “You told me I was a failure of a witch, that I didn’t belong, that I should just drop out. You belittled me every chance you got. You took credit for my accomplishment with Jennifer’s tree.” Diana’s back was to the wall now, tears in her eyes.

“Akko, please, I love you-”

“NO!” The shout made Diana scream, sliding down the stone wall, crying now. “You _never_ loved me! You’re with me because I saved the world! You want the acclaim! You’re using me, just like you use everyone. You are an _evil_ person, Diana Cavendish. I hate you.” This last part was almost whispered, pure malice in her voice. Diana was sitting on the floor, heaving with great sobs, hands covering her ears, trying to stop hearing the cursed witch. “I should’ve let you fall out of the sky.”

“Please, Akko, it’s the curse, this isn’t you…” Lotte began, her voice shaking. “She really loves you Akko, she would never hurt you.” Akko spun on her heel and ripped off her shirt, showing the scar on her back to everyone.

“SHE did this to me! You were there, Lotte. At Jennifer’s tree, when she wanted the glory, so she attacked me! Only an insecure, spoiled _bitch_ would feel so threatened that she had to attack me, a witch barely capable of defending herself. She even knows medical magic. She could have stopped this from scarring after it turned out I was right but NO, she had to walk away in a huff like a sore loser!” She backed up toward Diana, shoving the scar in her face, turning her head to look the blonde girl in the eyes. “Do you see this, Diana? YOU did this! This is proof of how awful a person you are! If only I-”

She was interrupted by a bottle of clear liquid splashing all over her, forcing her to face forward once again. Though she opened her mouth to shout, no sound came out. The liquid slowly turned gray as it dripped off her, pooling on the floor by her feet. Once all of it was gone, Sucy waved her wand and sucked it all into a vial.

“Thank Jennifer I had the ingredients for a curse draining potion,” she said quietly, stopping the vial and putting it in her bag. “Do you feel better, Akko?”

The brunette witch’s mouth gaped as she tried to process what she had just done. “Girls, I’m… I’m so sorry, I…” Unable to complete a sentence, she stared at them, red eyes even redder, about to cry.

“Don’t bother with us, Akko. You need to apologize to her first,” Amanda said coldly, nodding to the girl on the floor behind her. Akko turned around.

She broke. Her heart shattered.

Diana was crying quietly now, shivering. Her head was buried into her knees, arms wrapped around her legs. Blonde hair cloaked her, blocking most of her body from view. What Akko could see was heaving and shaking. All this because of her, because she hurt her. She fell to her knees, crawling toward her girlfriend. Amanda motioned to the other girls to move on; if Akko and Diana could figure this out, they would catch up later.

“D-D-Diana…” the red eyed witch whispered. “Diana I’m… I’m so sorry. I should’ve listened to you. The curse… I didn’t mean anything I said.” She tried to put a hand on the blonde’s knee, but a kick planted in her chest, pushing her back. “D-Diana?”

“Don’t lie to me, Akko.” Her voice barely came out; it was hoarse and cracking. “That was a De’reant Curse. I know them. They bring out your real thoughts, no matter how deep you push them. If you didn’t mean it, you wouldn’t have said it.” She shuddered, burying deeper into her legs. “I thought we had moved on from that stuff.”

“Diana, I really didn’t mean any of that.” Tears fell from Akko’s eyes, but she stayed back, afraid of getting any closer.

“Then why did the curse make you say it? If you don’t believe it, why did you shout at me, berating me for my past mistakes? I _know_ how terribly I treated you. I remember every single day. I have _nightmares_ about it sometimes.” She began to sob even louder, but she couldn’t stop talking. “Half a d-day ago you assured m-me you felt no ill w-will toward me for that s-scar. Then w-why, just now, d-did you scream at me for b-being evil and hurting you?” Diana lifted her head for, and Akko saw her eyes, normally bright blue, dull and surrounded by red from crying. “Y-You p-promised you didn’t h-hate me.”

Akko sat still, staining her skirt with hot tears. No words came to her as she and Diana stared at each other, only breaking eye contact to blink away the sadness rolling down their faces. The brunette witch shivered and blushed, realizing she was still topless after having thrown off her shirt in her cursed tirade. She clumsily put it back on, not bothering to straighten the wrinkles or wipe off the dirt.

“Diana, please listen to me. Let me talk,” she begged, inching closer to her girlfriend.

“Oh, like you let me talk a few minutes ago when you were shouting at me?” Her voice was hollow and little more than a whisper.

“That isn’t fair, Diana. I was cursed. That wasn’t the real me.” Her voice was close to breaking, but she kept it steady enough to go on. “Let me talk to you, and if you don’t like what I say, I’ll quit Luna Nova and get out of your life forever. Okay?” Akko’s heart dropped when Diana slowly nodded in agreement, but she continued, determined to convince her of her absolute love for the blonde witch.

“This curse, you said it makes me say what I think, that I would only say what I believe. The problem is, some of the things I said are true,” Diana sniffled at this, beginning to shiver again, “but that doesn’t mean I believe it now. You _did_ hurt me. You _were_ mean to me. That much is true. What isn’t true is that it still bothers me. I’ve told you that time and time again. I’ve forgiven you, because you changed, because you promised to be better and you _have_ become better.”

“But if you really forgave me, why did the curse make you say it?” Akko scooted closer still, risking an arm around her shoulders, smiling softly through her tears when she wasn’t rejected.

“Do you remember how you felt when I solved the Jennifer tree problem? How you were mad because you, Diana Cavendish, couldn’t solve the problem but this brand new witch from a non-magical family could?” Diana nodded into Akko’s arm. “What about after the Samhain Festival, when everyone was saying you only won because I got disqualified for breaking the rules? Or when that mirror made me look like you and I went around ruining your image?” She nodded again, sniffling. “That hurt, right? It hurt you that I did things better than you, after all the work you put in for ten years, under the pressure to be a perfect heir to the Cavendish name. I antagonized you. I did everything I could to upstage you, to make you look stupid, because I was mad at you. Am I right?”

“Y-yes, you are,” she began. “But-”

“Do you hold any of that against me?” The blonde witch shook her head slowly, rolling it to lean slightly on Akko’s shoulder. “But you remember it. You know that it happened. Even if it’s deep down, even if you try to keep it hidden, you know that I hurt you and you know that it bothered you at one point. _That’s_ what happened. You get it right? I said those things, not because I hate you for them, but because I haven’t forgotten that they happened, or that they hurt me.” She wrapped her other arm around her girlfriend, planting a kiss on her forehead.

“We have a weird relationship, Diana. We went from enemies to acquaintances to friends to girlfriends. There’s a _lot_ of baggage there, and we never addressed it. I know I was too scared to, worrying something like this would happen.”

“I didn’t want to talk about it, either,” came a soft reply. “I was scared of admitting to my transgressions, admitting that I acted childish and hurt you. I hoped it would all just go away with time. I realize now that I am still being childish.” She sniffled and leaned her head up to press their foreheads together. “I really do love you, Akko. I love you despite our past, or maybe even more so because of it. But I think we need to have a _long_ talk after this is over. We need to address everything we might still have repressed if we want to continue this relationship.”

“I agree.” Akko let her lips drop to Diana’s, meeting them softly, humming in response to their now shared warmth. They sat together for a few minutes before Akko spoke again. “But right now, we have a treasure hunt to win. Gotta get that class credit, right?” She wiped the tears from both their faces and stood, pulling the blonde girl up with her.

“Right.” Suddenly, the cavern shook with a colossal roar from further down the cave. “It sounds like our friends could use some help. Shall we go, darling?” she asked, extending her hand to the brunette. Akko simply nodded and grabbed hold.

“We shall, dear.” They began to run, sprinting down the cavern, hand in hand, side by side. Exactly how it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was painful to write. Making our resident cinnamon roll freak out like that was hard, but it needed to happen. Trust me.
> 
> I'm sorry if it feels like the curse kind of just retreaded some of the content from last chapter with Akko and Diana, but like I said, this needed to happen, and there was no better spot in the story to put it. I like to think I expanded on it rather than just copy-pasting.
> 
> Things are getting worse and worse for our girls, but I know that's what we're all here for. Thanks for reading!


	6. What's Even Going On In Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Akko's outburst, more troubles follow the girls as they try to make sense of the emotions being brought out of them.

_15 minutes earlier_

Amanda led the other girls through the tunnel, forging ahead while Akko and Diana were supposedly talking. Soft crying could be heard from Barbara and Lotte, who walked slower than the rest, hanging on to each other.

“Come on,” Amanda said. “We need to keep moving.”

“We know…” Barbara mumbled. “I just can’t get what Akko said out of my head.”

“Yeah, well, it sucks to hear the truth. We all know that,” Amanda replied stiffly.

“The truth?” Lotte said in shock. “Akko was cursed! How could she have meant what she said?”

“Was she wrong?” Sucy asked.

“Wh-what?”

“I asked if she was wrong. We _have_ treated her pretty badly. You can’t deny that.”

“Barbara and Hannah bullied her every day for months, and you and I act like that never happened. Sucy uses her as a lab rat. I get us in trouble and then run away, leaving her to clean it up herself. Diana put her down constantly. Conz and Jas have been the nicest to her, and even Conz has been pretty rude on multiple occasions.” Amanda’s voice was cold. “She has every right to hate most of us.”

“Then why does she spend all her time with us?” Lotte asked.

“What choice does she have?” Sucy asked. “If she drops us, she has no one at the school but professor Chariot, and she has a job to do. She can’t spend all her time being Akko’s only friend and support.”

They walked in silence for another minute before Barbara spoke up. “What should we do about it? Should we just leave her alone? Should we try to atone? Clearly we’ve caused her a lot of pain.”

“Let’s let her decide that,” Sucy said. “No one deserves forgiveness, but knowing Akko, she’s pretty likely to give it to us if we apologize and promise to be better.”

“There’s no reason for her to blindly forgive all of us,” Amanda added. “Anyone who wants her to forgive them should ask for it and tell her what they plan to do about it.”

“You say that like you won’t ask her, Amanda,” Lotte said.

“I probably won’t.” The tall girl grimaced. “Not for a while. I don’t deserve anyone to forgive me right now.”

“Amanda, what is with you recently?” Barbara stepped in front of her. “You have been a moping mess ever since you fought with Hannah at the manor. What happened to the carefree bravado you always had? Diana isn’t with us right now. We need your leadership.”

“You want _my_ leadership?” Amanda scoffed. “You want the girl who causes fights and treats people like crap to lead you? What is with you guys? Can’t you just let me be?”

Constanze came forward and signed to her friend. ‘Amanda, please. We care about you and we trust you.’ The two-tone haired girl sighed and took the tiny witch’s hand, gripping it tightly.

“I’m keeping Conz safe. That’s all I’m still doing here. You saw that different side of Akko. Now you’re seeing the other side of me. The one I hide.” She marched forward, almost dragging her friend along. Sucy, Lotte, and Barbara shared a look before setting off behind them, not wanting to get separated.

As they approached the entrance to yet another large cavern, they found Amanda and Constanze crouched near the hole, signing back and forth to each other. Amanda put out her hand as though to say ‘Be quiet’.

‘There’s a bear,’ she signed. The other three thought she meant like a grizzly bear or something, so imagine their surprise when they looked into the room to see a grey bear the size of a German _Maus_ tank sleeping right in front of the exit. It had a marking like a cross on its back, though the girls could hardly see this from their perspective.

“What do we do?” Lotte whispered, terrified. “It’s blocking our path.” Everyone looked at Amanda, who recoiled slightly at the attention.

“What?” she asked.

“Like it or not, with Diana not here, you’re the leader.” Sucy’s whisper was barely audible, but it they heard it clearly enough. “We’ll follow you. Whatever you think is best.” Barbara seemed to unhappy about it, but she said nothing if that were so.

Amanda eyed the bear, then looked back to the girls. She set her face and spoke to them. “I’m going to attack the bear.”

“Excuse me?” Barbara said, almost too loudly, causing Lotte to clamp a hand over her mouth.

“I’m going to attack the bear. While it’s trying to kill me, you all are going to make a run for the exit.”

“Amanda this is ridiculous. Hannah would never allow this.”

“Well Hannah isn’t here, in case you haven’t noticed. That’s _my_ fault. _I’m_ making up for it. If you want to fight me about it, come at me after this is over.” Ignoring the whispered protests from her friends, she took Constanze’s hand and gave her a hug. “Sorry Conz. Guess I can’t protect you for much longer.”

Hopping on her broom, she flew high into the cavern and blasted the bear. Once the green smoke cleared, they knew there was going to be a problem. Its fur was barely singed, and more than anything, it looked annoyed to have been woken up by some tiny bug flying in the air. It roared so loudly the walls shook and it ambled over towards Amanda, who waved her wand at her friends like she was saying ‘Go! Go!’

They went. Creeping as fast as they could, the young witches had barely made it a quarter of the way around the room before the bear noticed them. It roared again and dug a massive paw into the ground, pulling up a rock the size of a cannonball and beaming it straight towards them. Just in time, they threw up a combined barrier that deflected the rock, but now the bear was after them instead of Amanda.

“Hey!” she shouted from her broom, blasting it again. “Pay attention to me, you stupid, oversized version of Yogi! You want a damn picnic basket? Come get some!” No matter what she did, though, the bear ignored her. It barreled toward the other girls who quickly hopped on their brooms and flew up, causing the animal to roar in anger once again. More rocks sailed past their heads as they tried to get away, but the bear was too big and too fast. It stood in front of the exit and pawed at the ground, leaving deep scratches in the rock.

“What do we do?” Lotte said, panicking.

“Conz, will your rockets help at all? Amanda asked. The small girl shook her head, signing ‘Fur too tough. Will just make it mad’.

“My acid won’t do anything either,” Sucy added. “I don’t have a sleeping draught strong enough to put it out, and now I can’t make one up here.”

“Damn it!” Amanda’s broom vibrated with her frustration. “I can’t even be good bait. What the hell am I useful for?”

“Amanda, it’s-“

“No, it’s _not_ okay!” She shouted back. “Why can’t I help my friends? What are we even going to do now?”

Almost as if in response, a colossal trumpeting sound filled the room, coming from the tunnel they came from. Seconds later, an elephant larger than the bear burst into the cave, slamming it into the wall. Though dazed, the bear managed to swipe at the elephant and push it back, letting the girls see its face. For an elephant, it had strangely red eyes…

“Akko?!” Lotte shouted. Just then, Diana came running into the room. She launched a spell at the bear and beckoned the other girls.

“Come on! Akko will hold the bear off!” Not waiting for a response, she sprinted out the other end. After a second of shock, the five girls in the air shot after her, entering the smaller exit tunnel. A few moments later, Akko came tumbling down, rolled up as an armadillo. She bonked into the wall and changed back, dazed. Her friends surrounded her, staring.

“Akko, that was amazing!” Lotte shouted.

“It _was_ actually pretty good,” Sucy agreed. The brunette smiled and nodded before catching the icy looks of Amanda and Barbara.

“W-what’s wrong?” she asked them.

“Why’d you do it?” Amanda responded. Akko just stared at her in confusion. “Why’d you save us like that? Risking yourself for us?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you hate us,” came Barbara’s interjection. “Or you should. If you don’t, you’re kinda an idiot.”

“M-me… h-hate you?” Akko was on the verge of tears. “No, I don’t hate you. Please don’t think that.”

“But _why_?” The tall witch’s voice was clear yet pained. “You have every right and reason to hate us. We treated you terribly, and now we act like it never happened.” The brunette took a deep breath and stood, steadying herself.

“Okay, girls. Listen up.” She addressed this to everyone except Diana, who stood by her side, holding her hand. “Maybe I do have the right to hate you for the things you did to me. The truth is, _I don’t care_ if I do. I don’t _want_ to hate you. That’s not who I am. I might hold dumb, petty grudges, and I definitely act like an idiot half the time…” Diana giggled and squeezed her hand. “… Okay, maybe a little more than half the time. But, if I had my way, hate wouldn’t exist. It’s such a tiresome, painful emotion. I don’t wanna waste energy on it. Who knows, maybe I’ll get burned and stick by someone I shouldn’t. But I don’t wanna spend my life with a list of people to scorn and avoid. You guys treat me well right now. You make each other happy, and you make me happy. Sure, what you did before hurt, sometimes a lot, but what you’re doing now is the opposite of that. So sue me if I want to be your friends. Unless you won’t let me, I’m sticking by you until you leave me or stop treating me well again. Deal?”

No one really knew what to say. Sucy and Constanze stood silent, understanding painted across their faces. Amanda and Barbara looked uncomfortable, as though they didn’t like the explanation but had no intentions of making a scene about it after such an impassioned speech. Lotte, after a moment, burst into tears and threw her arms around Akko, muttering apologies. The brunette just pet her hair softly with her free hand and told her that she loved her.

“Ehmm,” Diana cleared her throat after no one said anything for a few minutes. “This is really sweet and all, but has anyone noticed we can’t hear the bear anymore?” The girls looked back into the cavern and saw that the massive animal was gone.

“Was it an illusion?” Barbara asked.

“No way. We all saw how it threw rocks and Akko around,” Amanda said. “I think it was moved somewhere else. Someone is trying to get us hurt. We’ll probably see it again.”

“We should quit then,” Diana rejoined. “There’s no reason to continue in this dangerous activity.”

“What?” Akko shouted. “There’s every reason to continue! Hannah and Jasminka got hurt doing this! We need to find out what’s happening, even if it’s just for them.”

“Akko, look. We’re in over our heads.” Amanda had a stony expression on her face. “As much as I hate to admit it, this is really dangerous. My girlfriend and my teammate have already gotten hurt. I don’t want anyone else to as well.”

“She’s right,” Barbara spoke up. “This is too much for a bunch of teenagers to handle. I mean, bears, minotaurs, dragons, sea serpents? It’s crazy!”

“So you think leaving is gonna be better?” Akko rebutted. “Amanda said someone is trying to hurt us. You think if we leave, they’re just gonna let us walk away? For all we know, if we evacuate, they’ll throw us in a cage or torture us. I’d rather stay here where I can fight. If you want to leave, then go.” She turned around and crossed her arms, huffing.

“I agree with Akko,” Lotte added in after a moment.

“As do I,” said Diana. “We’re stronger in here, together, than we would be trapped outside. Clearly there is _something_ going on, and I want to figure it out. No one messes with my friends. Is anyone else coming with us?” She eyed the other girls. Sucy shrugged and walked over to join them. Constanze looked at Amanda sadly before doing the same. “Well? Amanda, Barbara?”

Through pained expressions, the two remaining girls walked over to them. “I still think this is a bad idea,” Amanda said. “But I’m staying for Conz, you got that?” Barbara said nothing.

“Let’s get a move on, then,” Akko declared. She led them down the tunnel for a bit until they hit yet another massive cavern with a chest in the middle. It was at least a four hundred meters across, with a ceiling twenty meters high.

“Wow, another big cave with treasure in it. How original,” Sucy deadpanned.

“We are in a cave system,” Diana responded. “It’s not like there’s a lot of different things that can exist down here.”

“They could at least make the caves look cool,” Akko complained. “They’re all just brown or gray rock. It’s sooo boring. Put, like a rollercoaster or something in here.” The other girls laughed, fortunately. Tensions had been high since Akko went on her cursed tirade, but it seemed they were slowly breaking back down. Suddenly, Lotte pitched forward onto her knees, breathing heavily.

“Honey, what is it?” Barbara asked, dropping down to hold her.

“Dunno,” the ginger responded. “I feel overwhelmed by something, but I’ve never felt something _quite_ like this. It’s so weird.” It took her a minute to regather herself, but she was soon promising everyone that she was now okay. Diana, meanwhile, strode over to the chest in the middle of the room

“Alright, I’m going to open the box,” she declared. “You all stand around me, ready to react to whatever happens.” Wands, potions, and rocket launcher at the ready, the other six stood in a half circle around the blonde witch, prepared for anything. She opened the chest and pulled out a single piece of paper and began to read it aloud. “ ‘When the cocktail of blood is poured from the Holy Grail, the Giant shall reawaken.’ What does that mean?”

“Didn’t we break the Holy Grail at Appleton?” Amanda asked, facing Akko.

“I thought we did,” she replied. “Maybe that was a fake?”

“Wait, you did _what_?” Diana asked, incredulous. The two witches took turns explaining the adventure at the boarding school for rich, snobby boys like Andrew Hanbridge, causing her to sigh. “I don’t know what I expected. Well, I hope you really _did_ break it, because I don’t like the sound of a giant coming back.”

“Giants were real?” Lotte asked. “I mean, I’ve read about them in Nightfall but I thought they were just myths.”

“There’s records of them existing but no one has ever found any proof,” Barbara replied. “No bones, tools, fossils, nothing. Magical History experts disagree and change their stance every couple of decades or so.”

“So if a giant was to exist, it would be bad, right?” Amanda asked.

“If it was aggressive,” came Diana’s response. “A 50 foot tall creature that’s impossibly strong and nearly invulnerable? It could wipe out a city on its own before it could be safely stopped.” Everyone stopped for a minute and thought. They were vaguely aware of a scratching noise, but each chalked it up to one of the other girls moving their foot or something.

“So why is this here?” As soon as she said it, all eyes were turned to Akko. “This is a treasure hunt. Why is there a note talking about the Holy Grail and Giants? Did they want us to find this?”

“They must,” mused Sucy. “They’ve been able to control everything we saw up until now.”

“I think they want us to find the Holy Grail,” Amanda said. “There’s no other explanation.”

“But why?” Diana’s arm were crossed over her chest while she thought. “What’s the point in having us find the Holy Grail? Why not do it themselves? And what do they need it for? If it’s hidden, no one can use it to reawaken the Giants, if that’s even possible.”

“Maybe they want to turn it over to the government and protect it,” Akko rejoined. “Or they want to study it.”

“Can’t be the government,” Lotte said. “They’d just ask them to handle it. I think they thought this was the only way to get it.”

“This brings us to one question.” Everyone paid attention as Diana looked each of them in the eye. “Are we going to finish this? Are we going to look for the Holy Grail, not knowing what the plans for it are? Not knowing who the organizers of this really are?” No one said anything for a few minutes.

“I think we should keep going,” Akko suggested. “There were ten teams on the list. The Grail might not even be in this cave. Besides, we don’t know who’s out there. Maybe if we find the Grail, we can use it to our advantage if we get in a fight.”

“Perhaps,” Diana started. “though, it would b-” She got cut off by a scream. Just in time she whipped around to see a skeleton swing an ethereal sword at her neck, barely missing her as she ducked. All around them, tens of skeletons were rising from the rock floor, making the same scratching sound the girls had brushed off before.

“The hell is this?” Amanda shouted, hopping on a broom and grabbing Constanze.

“Skeletal warriors? Are we in a videogame?” Akko returned before transforming into an elephant again and barreling into a pile of the bony swordfighters. They scattered into pieces across the floor for a few moments before rattling and flying back together, swords reforming out of what looked like smoke. “Can those weapons even hurt us?” Diana picked her up once she transformed back, throwing her behind Sucy on her broom, and they joined everyone in the air. Slowly, the swords turned to bows and arrows, causing the girls to begin to panic.

“Dammit! What do we do?” Amanda asked. She flew around, looking for an exit in the room, but none could be found. “We can’t even get out. How did we not notice there was no other tunnel beforehand?” Fortunately, there was enough room to dodge, but the fliers were quickly getting tired.

“Hold on,” Akko said, pointing at a discolored piece of the wall. “That rock over there looks different. Think we can break it?” She looked at Constanze, who nodded and let off three of her remaining six rockets as soon as Amanda tossed her acid vial at it. The good news was that the rock crumbled and a passageway revealed itself. The bad news was that a new wave of skeletons rushed out of the exit tunnel, doubling the number already in the room. Even more arrows began to fly, filling the air. It was all the girls could do to avoid becoming the most unethical magical shish kebabs of all time.

“We’re so screwed,” Sucy said, monotone. It sure seemed that way, seeing as how most of the girls had torn clothes from arrows that managed to graze them, cutting them all over.

Suddenly, a haunting, resonant melody floated out from the tunnel they came from. Lights of pink and green and blue and purple began to appear out of nowhere, climbing out of the rock walls. The lights swarmed the skeletons, making them drop their weapons trying to swipe at them. Looking over, they saw Lotte and Barbara floating on the other side of the room, the ginger’s eyes closed tightly as she sang.

“The room is an old fairy colony,” Barbara shouted over to them. “We’re gonna hold them off. You go on ahead.”

“What? And leave you with them? No way!” Amanda and Akko yelled in unison.

“Amanda, you said you were gonna win this for Hannah. Don’t you dare turn back on that promise. If you do, I’ll personally break up with you for her. Now go! Lotte can’t do this forever.” As if in response, the singing grew louder, the fairies getting brighter, until the cavern seemed to be full of resonant light. Amanda started over to them, but a glowing green rope lashed around them, held by Akko as Diana dragged them out of the cavern through the hole they made. As soon as they were through, Diana cast a time-rewinding spell to repair the rock, blocking them out. Moments later, they heard two sirens sound, and then silence again.

“Diana, what the hell?” The tall witch yelled. “You just left them!”

“They gave themselves for us, Amanda,” the blonde said tersely.

“And you let them? Do you just not care about them? About their safety?”

“Do _not_ forget that Barbara is more my friend than yours.” Her eyes were red, and Akko quietly laced their fingers together. “And don’t you _ever_ insinuate that I don’t care about my friends.” She and the brunette started to walk away down the tunnel, soft heaving visible in their shoulders, leaving Amanda with Constanze and Sucy. The potion master was typically quiet and followed after them without a word, but the small German girl stayed. She signed ‘I still like you, Amanda’ and hugged her softly.

“Well, if this week in any indication, you probably shouldn’t,” Amanda said quietly, before wrapping her arms around Constanze and squeezing tightly. She let go and sighed, setting off behind the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took two weeks. I had to shift my work schedule to handle a car thing, so I was really tired for a while, and Thanksgiving happened. I was also uncertain of how I wanted these events to go, but hopefully the rest of the story is easier to write.
> 
> Anyway, we're finally getting some plot? In my fanfic? Unheard of. I think the girls are figuring stuff out at about the rate that I am. I've got a good end goal, but I really need to whip this middle part into shape. Hopefully I'll be able to do that weekly again, but we'll have to see. Thanks for sticking with me.


	7. The Labyrinth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing has been going right for the Luna Nova girls, but that doesn't mean they can't get worse

Constanze ran to catch up with Amanda, who was standing at an archway into a hallway that split off to the left and right. Confused, she called in on her bracelet to the others.

“Hello? This is Amanda. I’m at the entrance to the next cave and it goes left or right. Which should I choose? Over.” There was a moment of silence before Diana responded.

“Left or right? It went straight for us. Over.”

“It only went left for me. Over,” Sucy added in through the crackling radio.

“Uhh, okay,” Amanda said, frustrated. “Then Conz and I are going right. Over.”

“Hold on,” Diana rejoined. “We look like we’ve been in a maze. Combine that with the different entrances from the same point and I’m worried. Over.”

“You think this is some kind of shifting Labyrinth?” Sucy asked. “Over.”

“It very well may be. I think we should plan to try to meet at the exit. Whoever gets there first, call in and wait. I shudder to think of anyone being left behind here. Out.”

As soon as Diana ended the conversation, Amanda struck out down the right path, forcing Constanze to run once again to keep up.

“…stupid blonde heiress…” the American muttered under her breath. She stopped when she saw Constanze standing in front of her, signing ‘What’s wrong, Amanda?’

“Diana acts _so_ high and mighty, all ‘Oh, I _shudder_ at the thought of anyone getting hurt.’ Meanwhile, we’ve lost _four_ of our friends so far, two of them to major injuries, and she barely cares! Who does she think she is?”

Constanze frowned and signed ‘She cares. She was crying about Barbara. People expect her to be the leader, so she tries to look strong.’ Now Amanda frowned.

“I hope you’re right, Conz. I really do.” They set off together through the maze, turning whichever way they felt like at the crossroads.

***

“Diana?” Akko asked, rubbing her thumb across the blonde’s knuckles. “Are you okay?” Diana sighed and squeezed the brunette’s hand, trying and failing to smile genuinely.

“What Amanda said really got to me. I’m not trying to be heartless, but you all look to me to be a leader, and the leader can’t just break down crying every time someone gets hurt, as much as I want to.”

“Darling, she just doesn’t understand. I’m su-”

“But she does, Akko.” Diana’s eyes were still red. She hadn’t calmed down all too much since their fight in the cave. “She’s a great leader for her team. She does everything in her power for them, and she stays strong.”

“You call her outbursts and shouting staying strong? She’s hardly keeping herself together. Something’s up with her, and it isn’t your fault she’s taking it out on us. You’ve done a great job, and honestly, so has she, for the most part. We wouldn’t still be here without either of you. Please remember that.”

“I know.” She smiled, and the two of them walked for a while through the twisting hallways. At first, they had stuck to following the left wall, because eventually that would lead them out. Once they confirmed that the labyrinth changed, however, they gave up on that. Anytime they came across a junction, they went whatever direction felt natural. One such intersection, however, made Diana’s hair stand on end.

“What is that?” Akko asked, peering down one of the paths. “It feels… angry, and familiar. Almost like…” A huge bellow echoed towards them from the hallway they stared into, causing Diana to grab Akko’s hand and start running.

“It’s the Minotaur.”

“Seriously? It’s back? I thought I blinded it. How did it find us?”

“Someone must have put it here. It can probably smell us.” The blonde stumbled briefly, but Akko held her up and they kept going. “Jennifer, damn it! Giants, a labyrinth, a Minotaur, dragons, sea serpents; what is this, Ancient Greece?”

“Is that why we’re all so gay?” Akko joked, pulling Diana around a corner.

“THAT’S what you took away from my observation?” Diana shouted, failing to hide a faint smile. “Look, just keep running. We’ll find a way out of this eventually. It’s part bull: it can’t make turns like we can.” Just then, the hallway they were running down opened into a room with a cliff. A bellow sounded behind them and they turned to see the monster sprinting at them full tilt. “Okay, Akko. We have to make our stand here.”

***

Amanda and Constanze had been walking for a little while now, silently. Amanda didn’t feel like talking, so she went slightly ahead of her small friend, picking paths at random when they came to a crossroad. Her mood only seemed to be getting worse, her scowl deepening as time went on. Eventually, they arrived at a door of some sort. It was a gray block of stone, split in the middle, with gears and tracks covering both edges where it met the wall.

“Okay, so that’s just great. We’re stuck in front of a door with no knob or handle, and we can’t see anywhere to access these gears. _Perfect_.” Amanda kicked the door in frustration, grabbing her foot and grumbling in pain as she stubbed her toe. Constanze, meanwhile, went over to the gears on one side and studied them intensely, poking and prodding at the various pieces of machinery.

She turned to the tall American and signed ‘We can open this. Come help me.’ Rubbing her toe and swearing one last time, Amanda got up and went to her. She was handed a small piece of magitech and told to attach it to one of the gears on the other side of the door. After doing the same on her end, Constanze took out her wand and waved it, and the gears began to slowly turn.

“Conz, you’re a genius!” Amanda shouted, wrapping her up in a hug. As the doors opened, they heard a sound from their radios.

“This is Sucy. I threw some acid at a weird looking rock and it opened up a hidden tunnel. I’m gonna go check out what’s down there. It might be important. Over.”

“Sucy wait!” Amanda shouted. “You’re already alone! We need to regroup.”

“Amanda, something crazy is happening here. If this path leads to a trap or something, then I need to disable it for you guys to continue on safely.”

“Sucy-”

“See ya. Out.”

“SUCY!” Amanda screamed in frustration and kicked the wall again, reinjuring her toe. She was about to go on a rampage when Constanze grabbed her arm and pointed to the door. The gears were cracking and her robots were smoking. The door was closing. She signed ‘Let’s go’. Amanda shook her head and bolted for the door, but she was almost through, she turned around to see her small friend not following her. “Conz? Where are you?”

The German witch’s head poked around the door and she signed, ‘The gears are failing. I will hold them open. Go.’ Eyes brimming with tears, Amanda stomped her foot and grabbed her hand.

“NO! You’re staying with me! I’m not leaving you!”

‘Amanda, please let me. Let me help you. Let me do something. I’ll be okay. I promise. I’ll find another way.’ She pushed the American past the threshold just as the doors shut. Though she pounded on the stone until her hands hurt, Amanda was unable to do anything about them staying shut. She collapsed against it and buried her face in her hands. And then she cried.

She cried for a long time, or at least a time that felt long. First Hannah, then Jasminka, then Constanze. Amanda was unable to protect them all, to keep them all safe. Almost in a trance, she stood and started walking, tears still streaming down her face. No attention was paid to the direction she walked. Turns made themselves as she fell deeper and deeper into a pit of her own despair, deriding herself for doing what she thought only a weak failure would do. For losing, for giving up, and for not being strong enough to protect those she loved.

Suddenly, a scream broke her out of her thoughts. “Akko?” It came from her bracelet, but that made no sense. Why would they turn on the radio just to scream into it? “Hello!? Anyone there? Akko? Diana?” There was no response for a moment, but then she heard crying coming through.

“Akko, hold on! I’ll get you up!” It was Diana’s voice, strained and choked with sobs.

“No,” Amanda thought. She shook her head and thundered through the Labyrinth, ignoring the pain in her broken toes. The receiver on her wrist continued to speak as she ran.

“Diana, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.” Amanda rounded a corner, hit a dead end, then turned back and went the other way.

“NO! I’m not letting you fall. Absolutely not!” She came to a huge hole in the floor, but she hopped on her broom and flew over it, now speeding through the air.

“Please, Di. Trust me. I’ll only hold you back.” Amanda was no closer now, unable to find her two friends. The maze extended in every direction, forever.

“I do trust you, Akko! But I want you to stay! I _need_ you!” She cursed, flying faster and faster, growing desperate.

“You don’t need me, Diana. You’re the most amazing witch I’ve ever met. You don’t need _anyone_. Go save the world, darling. I’ll be okay.”

“AKKO! NO!” Amanda heard a siren go off, but not through her radio. She turned on a dime, almost smacking her head into a wall as she whirled around and sped towards the sound. As soon as she rounded another corner, she saw a big room, empty except for the small figure of a blonde girl crouched down, shaking and sobbing.

“Diana…” Amanda said. She hopped off her broom and walked over toward the crying girl, noticing she was at the edge of a cliff, leaning over the side. “Let’s get you to a safe spot, okay?” Wrapping her arms around Diana, she slowly pulled her back until they were about ten feet away from the bottomless pit in front of them. As her crying subsided, the blonde girl looked up at Amanda, blue eyes meeting green.

“You’re crying too? Why are you crying?” she asked, the words thick in her mouth. She raised a hand to the tall girl’s cheek and brushed away a tear, and Amanda realized how much her throat hurt.

“Constanze… she… never mind. Your radio turned on. I heard… well, stuff. What happened to Akko? Where is she?” Diana’s face scrunched as more liquid filled her eyes and, to Amanda’s shock, she buried her face into her neck.

“The… the Minotaur…” she murmured through her tears. “It came b-back. We ran to here and tried to trick it over the edge, but it was fast. It knocked me down; my leg is hurt pretty badly. Akko tried to help by becoming an elephant, but she was tired, and the Minotaur kept charging her. She led it to the edge, but she didn’t change fast enough, and it clipped her as it fell. She caught the edge, but she was too weak to pull herself up. I crawled over and took her hand, but I couldn’t get a good enough anchor with my leg to lift her. Then…” She cried harder, squeezing her arms tight around Amanda’s shoulders.

“That’s enough,” Amanda said. “I heard the rest.”

“I failed her, Amanda. I _let_ her fall. The most important person in the world to me and I just let her go. What kind of-”

“Diana.” Amanda’s voice was firm, and it startled the blonde witch. “You’re strong. You’ve let _no one_ down in here. Listen to Akko. Trust her. She trusted you to go on in her place after all.”

“Amanda…” She raised her head and stared with red, puffy eyes and tear streaks.

“Let me look at your leg,” Amanda demanded. Diana laid back and Amanda felt gently up and down it. “Jennifer, this is bad. It’s broken in two places and you’re bleeding. I can make a splint, but can you heal the cuts and help the breaks?”

Diana nodded and went to work as Amanda dug around in her pockets until she pulled out one of Sucy’s potions. She walked toward the entrance to the maze and tossed it at the ground. Great mushrooms sprung up, all different colors, some taller than Amanda. Swishing her wand, she cut down a number of them and then used a fire spell to dry them out until some were nearly rock hard, while others were still pliable. After rejoining Diana, who had managed to at least close her wounds, she used the softer mushrooms to tie the harder ones to injured girl’s leg.

“It’s a very unorthodox splint,” Diana said.

“Yeah, well, it’s all we have at the moment, princess. You’ll have to live with it,” Amanda grunted.

“Oh, I… I meant… sorry.” Diana blushed and looked at the floor. “I was joking. I really appreciate you helping me, Amanda. Especially after we had that fight earlier.” Amanda was silent for a moment before turning a bit red herself.

“I know what it feels like to fail people. And after seeing you cry so much over Akko, I realized I was wrong about you. You do care. I’m sorry.” She smiled, as genuinely as she could, and helped Diana up. The blonde girl tried to take a step and stumbled. Clearly the splint wasn’t enough for her to walk unassisted. “Here, put your arm around my shoulder, princess. I’ll help you.”

“Don’t call me princess,” Diana said, turning red again.

“Why, is that reserved for Akko?” Amanda teased. “‘Only my dearest love may call me princess, and only when we are in the throngs of passion-’”

“I will throw you off this cliff, Amanda,” Diana grunted as they walked on. “It’s fine if I die too. It’ll be worth it.” At this, Amanda laughed, a great sound that filled the cave.

“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor,” She said. “You’re not so bad after all. Akko is lucky to have you.”

“Th-thanks…” Diana said, startled. “Hannah is lucky to have you, too. And no complaints,” she added, seeing Amanda open her mouth to protest. “I know you’ve been fighting recently, but you’re one of the most fiercely loyal people I know. Hannah has been much happier ever since the two of you started dating. I trust you with her.”

“Bad choice…” Amanda said under her breath so that Diana couldn’t hear it. “It’s usually when someone starts to trust me that I end up failing.” They walked on, further into the cave, into the darkness. Just the two of them. The only ones left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long with this one. Writer's block plus work picking up before the holidays made for a break in my regular writing. I don't think this one is as good as the previous chapters, and it's kinda short, but I wanted to get it out there so I could continue with the story. I have a break from work for the next two weeks, so I expect to get at least one chapter during then. Thanks for reading!


	8. A Battle For The Ages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW// some homophobia  
> Only Amanda and Diana are left in the cave. What will they find, and what will it do to them? Is this finally the end?

The girls slowly trudged through the hallways, stopping to take a break every now and then. Even though Diana had done some healing magic and Amanda splinted her leg, it was still painful enough to prevent them from moving at full speed. Truth be told, they were both scared, and neither one of them was exactly thrilled to find out what awaited them next.

“You think all this giant business is legit?” Amanda asked, leaning against a rock.

“I don’t know,” Diana replied. “Frankly, after all I’ve seen, I wouldn’t be too surprised.”

“What can we even do about a giant if we encounter one?”

“Hope? Die? Probably our only two options.” She cracked a dry smile, but nothing about it was funny. “They’re at least thirty feet tall, often more, and capable of smashing stone buildings to dust with their bare hands. Just one would be a nightmare. More than that? I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Wonderful.” They sat together in silence. Presently, Diana spoke up.

“I can go some more. We should try to not stay still too long. I’m afraid something is going to follow us.” Amanda nodded and pulled Diana up, supporting her as they started off again.

It took a long time before they found anything, mostly because they had to keep stopping for Diana to rest, though Amanda was also grateful for the breaks. After a couple hours of nothing but rocky tunnels, they came upon a small room, similar to the ones before, except this one didn’t seem natural at all. Instead of stone, there was marble and wood. An altar, painted in golds and reds sat at the back, with an ornate box sitting atop it. Words were etched into the walls all the way to the ceiling, but they weren’t in English.

“Is this… there’s Greek and Hebrew here,” Diana said, peering at some of the symbols.

“That’s an odd combination, isn’t it?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, which is why I wonder. What could link those two here in the UK? It’s not like there’s anything…” Her eyes widened, and she took a look at the box in the middle of the room. Suddenly, everything seemed darker, colder. “Oh, Jennifer no. This is bad, really _really_ bad.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Amanda asked, noticing Diana shaking heavily now.

“You… you said you and Akko broke the Holy Grail at Appleton, right?”

“Well, it was actually this asshole Lewis, but yeah. Or, at least we thought so. He spiked it on the ground and it shattered.”

“Then what’s in the box?”

Suddenly, a sound of clapping filled the room. The girls turned to find a tall brown-haired man, dressed in a blue wool suit, staring back at them, slapping his hands together as he smiled. Amanda’s face drained of color, then quickly filled back up with red rage.

“ _Roger_.” Diana had never heard so much hatred and venom in her voice before. “What the _hell_ are you doing here?”

“Amanda, you know him?” Diana asked.

“Of course she knows me,” Roger said, smiling sickly sweet. “I’m her uncle.”

“You’re NO family of mine!” Amanda shouted, whipping out her wand and shooting a spell at him. It deflected around his body as he laughed, stepping further even more.

“Hey now, that’s my line,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll _fix_ you and your friends very soon.” He walked forward, and an invisible barrier knocked Amanda and Diana to the side as he passed them. No sooner had he picked up the box then all three of them were sucked through a teleportation spell, throwing them to the ground in a cage on the edge of a forest.

“Wha…” Amanda groaned, shaking off her fatigue to find herself face-to-face with… Akko? “Girls?” Most of the others were there too, barring Sucy and Constanze. They looked at her and Diana, worry painting their faces.

“Amanda, Diana! Are you two okay?” Akko shouted, wrapping them in a hug. Hannah joined them and pulled Amanda away to squeeze her tightly.

“Hannah, I’m so sorry, I…” The auburn-haired girl, tears in her eyes, shook her head and planted a soft kiss on her girlfriend’s forehead.

“It’s okay. _I’m_ okay. We’re back together. We’ll be alright,” she said.

“And this is exactly the problem.” They all turned to see Roger standing outside the cage, flanked by two young women. “Witches are bad enough. Using magic to intimidate _normal_ people, acting all high and mighty and superior, begging the government for money to fund their demonic witchcraft. But _homosexual_ witches? The devil had fun making you.” His eyes slanted, staring straight at Amanda. “He even got to you. It makes me sad, Amanda. My own flesh and blood, so corrupted.”

“Amanda, what’s he talking about?” Akko asked.

“Roger bitch-face over here is _technically_ my uncle,” she seethed. “He’s my dad’s brother. We all hate him, though.”

“Really, Mandy, _you_ hate _me_?” There was contempt in his voice. “Me, who has tried so hard to fix you, to help you see the light. What have I done to draw your ire?”

“You _always_ hated me. You hated my mom, because she was a witch, and my dad for marrying her. Then, you hated me as soon as I started using magic. You tried to kill me as a baby.”

“It would have saved you so much pain, my dear,” Roger said, reaching through the bars to touch Amanda’s face. She bit at his fingers, but he pulled them back at the last moment. “I see you’re the same animal you always were. A shame, really. But you’ll be good fuel.” He nodded to the women beside him and they waved wands, paralyzing the girls. Roger opened the ornate box and removed a cup from it, then took a knife and cut each of them on the face, letting the blood drip into the cup. As soon as he finished, the spell broke and the girls could move again

“Oh no,” Diana said, her face ashen. “The cocktail of blood and the Holy Grail… you can’t truly mean to-”

“Oh, but I do, miss Cavendish. I would have preferred to have all nine of you, but that poison freak and the mute girl never showed up. I wonder what will become of them.” He turned toward the other two women with him and beckoned them to stick out their arms.

“Why are you helping him?!” Akko shouted. “He hates you!” They did not respond.

“I gave them a mind control potion. They’ll do whatever I want. After I awaken the Giants, I’ll kill them, just like I will with you. The world will see just how useless witches really are!”

“The Giants will kill you too!” Lotte said.

“The military can kill a couple of Giants,” Roger sneered. “They have nuclear weapons strong enough to destroy London. A few magical creatures will pose no threat.”

“But why? Why do any of this?” Barbara asked.

“Because witches are unnatural. Their magic is evil. And they corrupt people everywhere, with everything they do. Wars, homosexuality, murder, theft. It all comes from witches. I will purify the world of them and save it.”

“I should have knocked your ass to the hospital when you showed up a month ago,” Amanda growled.

“You saw him recently?” Hannah asked.

“Yeah,” Amanda replied. “He came by our house at the beginning of summer, acting like he was trying to make amends. As soon as he heard that I attend Luna Nova and was dating a girl, he blew his top. Started shouting about all this stupid stuff about how my dad should never have married a witch and that it was destroying the family. Dad kicked him out, but I was really pissed. I still am.”

“Is that why…”

“Yeah, Han. What he said really got to me, and I let it out on you and everybody else. That wasn’t fair. I’m sorry.” Amanda wrapped her arms around Hannah protectively, glaring at Roger. “I’ll stop you, you slimy bitch.”

“Well then, please, be my guest.” One of the witches waved her wand and the cage disappeared. At the same time, however, Roger overturned the Holy Grail, and the blood poured out of it, splashing on the ground.

The earth shook. All around them, mounds rose from the dirt, ten in all. Some made it over fifty feet tall, some only thirty, but all of them massive. They had all multicolored colored skin, legs like snake bodies, hands bigger than the girls. A couple ripped tree trunks from the ground and swung them around as though they were bats, ready to pulverize puny witches-in-training.

Suddenly, Diana and Akko shot a huge ball of green light high into the sky, which erupted in a deafening sound and an explosion they figured could be seen for dozens of miles. The Giants stumbled and covered their ears from the pain, and Roger and his servants fell to the ground in shock. Even their friends were confused, though Diana had prematurely set up a barrier so that they didn’t feel the brunt of the sound wave. No one had time to ask what was happening, however, because less than five seconds after the blast went off, there was an ungodly roar.

A massive white bear with a yellow cross on its stomach came crashing through the trees, slamming itself into one of the smaller Giants. The Giant fell, causing a chain reaction when it hit another next to it, and quickly half of them were lying on the ground, shaking the leaves off trees when they collided with the earth.

“Arcas!” Akko shouted, drawing looks from her friends.

“What’s an Arcas?” Hannah asked. Before anyone could answer, one of the largest Giants swished his great tree trunk at the girls, only to be intercepted at the last moment by a pair of big magical mechs.

“Is that… Croix’s stuff?!” Amanda said incredulously. “And that thing next to it, it looks like the Stanship … Wait… _That’s Conz in there_!” Zooming in from high above the trees, Chariot and Croix flew in, stopping in front of the girls. Arcas came and heeled in front of the French witch, whose hair was radiating a dangerous, fiery-red aura. Most surprisingly of all, though, was that…

“Chariot! You’re flying on a broom!” Akko yelled, tears in her eyes.

“We’ll talk about that later,” she responded, her voice hard and determined. “We have business to handle. You girls are hurt and tired. Stay back and let us handle this. Constanze and her Stanship will keep near you.” She threw them vials of potion that glowed a gorgeous blue. “Drink up. It’ll give you some strength back.” Sparing a moment to glance at Croix, who simply nodded, they flew together straight towards the Giants and their masters.

If anyone thought Chariot battling with Croix had been terrifying spectacles of power and intellect, they would not be ready for Chariot battling _with_ Croix. The two greatest witches of their generation were on a warpath, and it seemed insulting, impertinent, incredulous to say that they looked to be the underdogs against the Giants. Even with the Wagandean sickness, Chariot had been strong enough to fight a magitech dragon creature filled with all the hate in England. Now, fully cured, with magic having been restored, and most importantly furious, she was a war machine.

Despite no longer having the Shiny Rod for the Shiny Arc and Shiny Valley, she looked unstoppable. She zipped around almost faster than anyone could see, casting spells only Diana had even heard of at her enemies. Great eruptions of fire, huge bolts of lightning, waves of frost cold enough to freeze a volcano; it seemed like there was nothing that could even challenge her power. And when something tried to catch her off guard, Croix’s mech and Arcas were there to back her up, deflecting tree swipes, absorbing spells from the witches, and blocking the bullets from Roger’s pistol. Croix herself was embroiled in a battle with the witches under Roger’s control, and she seemed to be trying to annoy and distract them more than anything. Every now and then, something astray would fly toward the girls, only to be intercepted by the Stanship mech, who occasionally sent off rocket barrages of its own to attack a Giant. Even Lotte, who was exhausted, was singing softly, and every now and then some fairies would appear from the ground and swarm whatever was attacking them.

“I know witches don’t believe in goddesses,” Akko said, awed, “but I think Chariot might be one.”

Unfortunately, things were not as good as they seemed. Despite Chariot’s overwhelming power and her backup, she was slowing down. The Giants would take massive damage: burn to a pile of ash, get its head blown off, have a leg ripped apart by Arcas, but nothing stuck. As soon as they hit the ground, they began to reform. In the midst of the fray, Roger had somehow managed to get his witches to summon the dragon and the Minotaur as well, so now it was Chariot fighting the Giants with Arcas while Croix, Constanze, and the mechs defended the girls from the excess monsters.

“You stupid witches,” Roger roared, laughing. “The Giants are born of the earth. So long as they can touch it, they heal from anything you do to them. You’ve lost. Give up, give in, and recant your sins. Maybe God will have mercy and still let you in to heaven despite your demony.”

Chariot had regrouped by then, forming a pentagon around her students with Croix, Constaze, Arcas, and the mech. “Jennifer, dammit,” she said, frustrated. “If only I still had the Claiomh Solais, I could probably do this. What are we going to do?”

“Yes, what?” Roger gloated. “What can measly witches do against this great ancient power?”

“How do you expect a bomb to kill these things?” Lotte asked. “They’ll just reform, won’t they?”

“Oh, don’t you worry, little girl. Their essence will get scattered so far apart that not even the earth can save them. I’ve got it all figured out.” He bowed, smiling sickly. “Now, please do me a favor, and die.”

The Giants had mostly reformed and were surrounding the Luna Nova squad, and they were closing painfully slowly, as though savoring a meal’s scent. Everyone was huddled tightly together, the girls shaking in fear and exhaustion, Chariot and Croix with anger, when there came a far off sound, and then static from their radio.

“Akko, Lotte, I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can, you need to cast the first spell I taught you.”

“SUCY?!?!” The two girls shouted together.

“Remember it? The one from the Forest of Arcturus? Use it now!” Asking Chariot for a quick megaphone spell, they gathered their breath and shouted at the top of their lungs.

“KUTCHUR KATELA FLALA!! KUTCHUR KATELA FLALA!!”

Now, Chariot and Croix’s entrance was dramatic and cool, and Constanze’s was a wave of relief. But to see Sucy bolting in followed by the Cockatrice, there is no word for that other than increditerror. At least, that’s how Akko would later describe it when she told the story to the paper, their schoolmates, and any other poor sap who would listen. The Giants were tall; the Cockatrice was taller. The Giants were scary; the Cockatrice was scarier. When the Giants would take a step, the ground would rumble a little. When the Cockatrice was running full speed toward them, any reasonable person could have been convinced there was a 6.4 earthquake going on. In short, increditerrifying.

One of the Giants tried to swing its tree at the Cockatrice. Big mistake. The tree shattered on its leg, and the Giant got chomped in half by a beak larger than a tank. Another tried to climb its back to get to its head, but the serpent tail wrapped around its arms and ripped them off, throwing the Giant to the ground effortlessly, as though it was a baby trying to climb a linebacker. The Giants were in mayhem, some wanting to fight, some wanting to run, and all of them making it very dangerous to stay around.

In the middle of all this, Sucy caught up with everyone, and Chariot and Croix immediately prepared a teleportation spell to get them away from the fight. Just in time it activated, too, because the Cockatrice had gotten bored and decided to use its stone breath on the Giants. As they were whisked away in an envelope of magic, they saw ten new statues get made.

The spell landed them in a field some kilometers away, the Cockatrice and Giant statues barely visible on the horizon. Chariot and Croix collapsed from the effort, the mech and Stanship shut down because they were out of magic, and Arcas was licking the wounds that covered his body. But, most importantly, they were together, they were safe, and they were-

_CRACK!!_

A gunshot rang out. Roger stood off to the side with his servants, having snuck on to the teleportation circle. Amanda stood between him and her friends, a bullet lodged in her shoulder. She fell to her knees, vision blurring, head pounding.

“NO!” Hannah and Jasminka shouted. Constanze launched the rest of her rockets at the villains, making them run away and hide. Blood was soaking Amanda’s T-shirt and Diana was crying.

“I don’t have enough magic to heal,” she sobbed. “I’m so, so, so sorry!” Everyone else was crowded around her, trying to think of a way to help. Everyone except Sucy, that is. She wiped some blood off Amanda’s shoulder and dripped it into a purple vial that she stirred, changing it to a violent orange. Gently pushing Hannah and Diana to the side, she ripped the shoulder of her shirt and poured the liquid into the wound. Immediately it started steaming and closing up.

“Dragon blood potions,” she cackled. “Awesome stuff. Melts the bullet, heals the wound. You should be okay, Amanda.” The tall witch groaned and sat up, blinking. Almost immediately, before she could say thanks, she turned her head and saw Roger creeping back toward them, his pistol discarded.

“I’m going to destroy you,” she said, her voice dangerously low. “You witch-hating, homophobic, disgusting piece of crap. You tried to kill all my friends, almost everyone I care about. Get ready.”

Roger whistled, and one of the witches conjured him a horse, and the other one a rifle. “Come and get me, demon-worshipper.” Amanda charged at him, ducking and rolling between the horse’s legs, launching a spell at his face. The horse unfortunately, was unhorsely fast. It reared up to dodge, then ran away so Roger could get a good shot at her.

“ _Metamorphie Fasciee_!” “ _Ohr Yhon Deyantz_!” Green flashes of magic popped up behind Amanda, and she turned around to see a horse with red eyes, laden with a saddle and sword. Everyone looked at her, smiling.

“Let’s go!” the Akkorse whinnied, stamping her hooves. Amanda laughed and jumped on her back, yelling “ _Metamorphie Weisstyss_ ”, changing her clothes into a suit of magical armor.

“I’m ending this,” she said, pointing her sword at Roger. “For me, my friends, my mother and father; for everyone.” Akkorse took off, nearly flying at the man, who was now scared witless. In a panic, he fired off his rifle as fast as he could, but none of his shots hit anything. It took less than a minute for Amanda to swipe his off his mount, and then she was off too, standing in front of him, sword point at his neck. “And I win. Easy.” She smirked.

“Amanda, p-p-please don’t kill me,” Roger whimpered.

“You know, Roger, I would _really_ love to. But I’m at least kind of a good person. So you’re going to prison, I’m never seeing you ever again, and my life as a gay-demon-witch will go on with laughter and happiness. I hope you enjoy knowing that.”

***

Later that day, after the magical authorities had come by and rounded up Roger, freed his witches from the mind-control potion, and given medical attention to the girls, they were sent back to the Cavendish Manor for some _very_ necessary R&R. They ate dinner together, feeling merry, and gathered in the lounge to discuss everything that happened.

“So every time someone used the evacuation signal, they put you straight in the cage?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah,” Hannah said. “They gave me some medicine, and food and water, I think to keep me healthy enough to get my blood later. The other girls got the same when they showed up. Jasminka gave me the idea of storing magic in case we needed it. That Leyline ran right under us.”

“Well, it turned out to be quite useful,” Diana said. “Akko and I never would have had enough magic to fire that flare otherwise.”

“How did you two know to look for that?” Lotte asked Chariot and Croix.

“Those Luna Nova emblems we gave you actually had a tracking spell on them,” Croix explained. “We didn’t really trust what was going on, so we wanted to be safe. As soon as Hannah was evacuated and we noticed she was brought far away, Chariot sent Alcor to keep an eye on her. After a couple of you all showed up there, we decided to go.”

“Instead of attacking right away, we made a plan,” Chariot continued. “We were worried that if we tried to rescue the ones we could see, the rest of you would get stuck in the cave. Croix called over her mech, and had it bring the Stanship along just in case we needed the extra firepower, and I had Alcor fetch Arcas. Then we waited for a time to strike. That flare made a perfect distraction and let us get in.”

“I noticed Alcor flying overhead,” Akko added in, “so I told Diana you guys must have been near, and she had us do it. It was rather brilliant.” She kissed the blonde on the cheek, making her blush.

“So what happened with Conz and Sucy?” Jasminka asked. Constanze wrote out her story on a screen and showed it to them. After she got trapped behind the door, she wandered the maze until she found a hole melted in the wall. Thinking it was Sucy’s, she went through it and came out near the forest. Alcor noticed her and brought her to the professors and the Stanship, where she took command of it.

“That was my tunnel I melted,” Sucy said. “I noticed the rock was discolored, so I threw some acid at it. I thought it would take me to a trap, but it let me out into the Forest of Arcturus, close to where the fight happened. Instead of trying to regroup, I decided to make that healing potion I used on Amanda’s bullet wound with the dragon blood, just in case we needed it. I had to go into the forest for some Mandrake sap. As soon as I finished brewing, though, the Cockatrice found me and started chasing me. Constanze had fixed my radio while we were sleeping that one time, though she forgot to tell me. One of yours was stuck on, so I heard what was happening, and heard the Giants too. I figured if I could lure the Cockatrice over to them, it could destroy them. We’re lucky I was right.”

Everyone nodded and sat on the thought for a minute. Suddenly, Akko had a realization.

“Wait! What about all the treasure we found?”

“Illusion magic,” Chariot answered. “Very powerful illusion magic. You were picking up rocks the whole time. They even messed with Constanze’s treasure detectors to make it locate random stuff. There were never any other teams as well. The entire thing was a front to get you girls to do this. Roger saw the news of how you saved the world and decided he wanted your blood to use, so he planted the enchanted poster in Amanda’s luggage when he visited. It made sure she saw it.”

“Aww, so no prize?” Akko whined.

“Well, the magical government is paying up the prize money as a reward for capturing those villains. As for school, Headmistress Holbrooke has decided that since you’ve now saved the world twice in a year, she’s going to allow you all to take credit for any and all classes you want to this semester, instead of just the one. You could have no schoolwork and dedicate the entire time whatever you feel like, so long as it’s magic based.”

“Awesome!” the girls yelled together. They started to eagerly discuss what to cut and what they were going to do with their time when Diana asked what they’d all forgotten about.

“Croix, just how on earth did you cure Chariot’s Wagandean Sickness? And when?”

“Actually, she was cured before you started this,” Croix laughed. “She flew us to your manor, but she wanted to keep it a surprise for when you got out. I guess her flying in to battle was surprise enough. As for how, it took a lot of ingredients, but the secret turned out to be Pappiliodya pupae. Fortunately, Chariot had saved some after they hatched at the school last year.”

“Amazing!” Diana breathed. This satisfied the girls, who were very suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the adventure catch up to them all at once. Deciding to go to sleep on good, warm beds, they said their goodnights and headed off to the dormitory wing. As Akko and Diana entered their room, Akko nudged Diana with her elbow, pointing at Hannah and Amanda who were leaning so heavily on each other it was hard to tell who was supporting the weight.

“Ever since you two appeared in the cage, they’ve seemed so happy together,” Akko remarked.

“They had a lot of time to think, and that really helped their situation,” Diana replied as the girls undressed. “I think they’ll be okay.”

“Will we?”

“If you want us to be okay, Akko, we will be. That’s who you are. You always help people find a way.”

They got into bed together, wearing nothing but their underwear, and held each other close. After what they had been through, they wanted to feel the warmth of the other, skin against skin. There were no other intentions behind it; all they wanted was the reassurance that someone else was alive, that _they_ were alive, that they had survived. In a moment, all the fear and sadness from the debacle hit them both all at once, and they began to cry.

They pulled each other close, tightly, together. Hot tears fell on their shoulders, hands reached up to stroke their hair. Mouths went to ears, whispering “I love you” and “We’ll be okay” as they felt their heartbeats slowly sync up. Wrapped around each other, breathing and sobbing in time, they slowly fell into a deep sleep, where the tears stopped, and the tension left their muscles.

They had gone through so much, personally and with each other, it was hard to imagine what the future might hold. But their dreams gave them a glimpse of what it could be. A family, happiness, magic shows, hospitals for saving people. The world held endless potential for them to be together and do what they love. It didn’t matter that it would be hard, that it would sometimes hurt, or that it would threaten to break them, because together, they could handle it. Recent events had proved that. They proved nothing was stronger than the bond that tied Akko to Diana.

All these thoughts danced in the brunette’s mind as she awoke with the sun, golden light filling the room. She opened her eyes and saw a mass of blonde hair. She pulled close and smelled Diana’s shampoo. Then she let go and sat up a little, looking at the angelic face sleeping next to her. She brushed a lock of hair out of her face and kissed her forehead, and her heart swelled. Blue eyes flickered open, and Diana smiled up at her.

“A penny for your thought,” she said, groggily.

“You’re going to hate me for it,” Akko responded, grinning widely.

“Try me,” Diana laughed, sitting up and wrapping her arms around Akko’s neck, bringing their faces so close their noses touched.

“I was just thinking,” Akko said, pausing to give her girlfriend a warm kiss on her lips, stars in her eyes, and joy in her heart. “that the _real_ treasure was the love we strengthened along the way.”

“You're right,” Diana said as she pulled them back down to lie on the bed. “I do hate you for that. But I'll forgive you just this once, provided you give me one thing.”

“Oh? And what is this one thing?” Akko asked.

“Your heart.”

“You fool,” Akko laughed. “You already have that.”

And so, they lay with each other for a long time, cuddling and whispering to themselves. Starting the day could wait. Everything could wait, as far as Akko and Diana were concerned. A believing heart was their magic, and a loving heart was their strength. They were together. Nothing was more important than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amanda was the final hero? Who could have guessed that? This is the official end of the Treasure Hunt story. It went about twice as long as I originally intended, so that's fun. I really enjoyed writing it, but I was definitely running dry near the end here. Inventing a witch-hating homophobic uncle for Amanda as the final boss is kind of lame, but there was no one in universe who was really still evil after the show ended, so it is what it is.
> 
> I have a couple ideas for an epilogue to this, and possible sequel stories about the girls' independent studies next semester, but there will probably be a break before I try writing any of those.
> 
> If you made it all the way through, thank you very much! I know near the end here I had a number of long delays, and I'm sorry about that.
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!


End file.
